King County plans to apply an innovative anti-skid road treatment at two-dozen locations throughout the county, and a section of Vashon Highway is included on the list.

The project is part of a countywide effort to improve safety and reduce the number of vehicle-off-the-road accidents.

According to Jeff Switzer, spokesman for the county’s Department of Transportation, a roughly 450-foot section of Vashon Highway north of Quartermaster Drive is  slated to receive high-friction surface treatment (HFST). The treatment involves placing a thin layer of specially engineered, high-friction aggregates on the road surface to improve pavement friction and increase skid resistance. It it used most frequently on  curves.

The locations chosen by the county were determined by the frequency of accidents that involved vehicles leaving the road. The Vashon Highway location recorded a total of 19 accidents between 2005 and 2014, 15 of which involved vehicles going off of the road.

The Federal Highway Administration has reported a significant decrease in accident occurrences in areas where HFST has beeninstalled. As of last year, a 74 percent reduction in accidents was verified across 30 locations in various states.

“It helps drivers stay on the road in places where speed and heavy braking has otherwise worn the surface down,” Switzer said. “It’s helpful and needed.”

He added that HFST should not pose a problem for cyclists or motorcycles, as it improves the riding surface and traction for them as well, and it has been used to treat miles of bike lanes across the country.

The work, which is scheduled to begin during the summer of 2016, will be paid for by a federal grant.

— Sarah Low