High Street in Rochester will be getting safety improvements. Highway Surveyor Jeff Eldridge announced plans for improvements with Dave DeBaie of the New England Institute of Transportation Engineers at Monday night’s Selectmen meeting.

The state contacted Eldridge about a year and a half ago about High Street and said it was identified as a street eligible for a state grant based on crash data. The state was looking to spend the money on a rural type of road like High Street, and with 34 crashes in six years, it was above the state average for crash statistics on similar roads.

Eldridge said after meeting with DeBaie a few times, they came up with 14 improvements and have chosen a handful to pursue.

The concrete posts on the side of the road will be removed and a more up-to-date guard rail will be put in.

“When I started my career those concrete posts and cables were the standard, but they’re not anymore,” DeBaie said. “They’re more of a hazard now.”

Warning signs on the road will also be replaced, as well as worn out speed limit signs. DeBaie said they also plan on adding the chevron arrow signs around curves to serve as a warning.

These particular measures were chosen because most of the accidents on High Street are single car crashes, where people lose control of their cars and hit trees or end up off the side of the road and hit trees.

Selectman Richard Nunes asked if the town would have to match the money put forward by the state, but DeBaie said that the state will fund the entire project.

Eldridge and DeBaie plan to send their first submission into the Department of Transportation this week to get the project rolling.

“It needs to be advertised before fiscal year 2018, so it has to be advertised by July,” Debaie said. “We’re planning on submitting it on Thursday.”