Guardrail Safety Analysis To Be Announced

In October, we wrote a post titled, “Highway Guardrails Kill People, Alleges Lawsuit.” The post focused on Trinity Highway Products, the guardrail manufacturer, who is facing legal allegations that it changed its guardrail design and failed to inform the Federal Highway Administration while improperly accepting federal money.

In January, Nevada became one of the states that removed ET-Plus from its list of approved products because of Trinity’s failure to disclose changes to it. The company is currently trying to reinstate the product on Nevada’s qualified provider list but they are engaged in discussions with the Nevada Department of Transportation to hash out any questions relating to the ET-Plus system.

Nevada is awaiting the outcome of the testing which will be completed by year’s end if all goes well the product will might be reinstated.

Right now it is unknown how many, if any, guardrails with smaller terminals are installed on Nevada highway, said John Terry, the Transportation Department’s assistant director and chief engineer.

When a guardrail is damaged in a wreck, crews are dispatched to the scene to repair it, not replace it. At this time there is no data showing where and when guardrails are replaced or installed, said Terry.

The Federal Highway Administration will make a decision as to whether they are safe once the guardrail testing is complete. At that time the state will re-evaluate the ET-Plus system.

If the products are deemed flawed, the state will be charged with inspecting thousands of guardrails lining the highways, statewide to discern if any of the 4-inch terminals are installed.

There are more than 200,000 of the altered ET-Plus guardrails across the country. Florida is among 44 states that stopped installing the guardrails until the new crash tests are completed. Virginia is the only state that is removing the guardrails.