Motorists traveling Griffith Point Road on Marrowstone Island for the past year may have noticed that its guardrail is 20-30 feet shorter than it used to be.

Eric Kuzma, project manager for Jefferson County Public Works, confirmed that the Griffith Point Road guardrail was shortened by an auto accident in January of this year.

“It will be replaced,” Kuzma said. “The only reason it hasn’t been replaced already is due to other projects taking priority. Without emergencies like Undie Road [a water-damaged road in West Jefferson County], this would have been done sooner.”

Kuzma noted that the location of the guardrail has been the scene of only two accidents in the past six years, one of which involved a vehicle heading in the wrong direction.

“It’s a road that has a low rate of pedestrian and bicycle use,” said Kuzma, who pointed out that the road’s 25-mile-per-hour speed limit doesn’t necessarily meet the requirements for a mandatory guardrail.

“That’s largely irrelevant, though, because people have come to expect a guardrail out there,” Kuzma said

Another difficulty of replacing the guardrail is the design of its concrete posts, which can’t be repaired and are difficult to replace. Following a redesign, Kuzma promised, the missing segment of guardrail would be replaced by this spring.

The estimate for the guardrail replacement is in the range of $12,000-$15,000.