LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Both Kentucky and Indiana say state crews routinely patrol roadways for potential hazards, and the condition of guardrails are part of the inspection.
However, it took just a few hours for FOCUS to discover many guardrails on both sides of the Ohio River which were either obsolete or in very poor condition, or even put together with the wrong parts.
Steve Eimers, a highway safety advocate, provided his expertise to point out problems.
Eimers has dedicated his life to guardrail safety since his 17-year-old daughter, Hannah, died after hitting a now banned guardrail in Tennessee in 2016.
As a result of our own inspection, within the radius of just a few miles, three guardrails identified as more dangerous than others have been repaired.
In the Jeffersontown area, near the intersection of Hurstbourne Lane and Taylorsville Road, a section of guardrail in front of a culvert was on the verge of falling over.
It had been badly damaged since at least 2017, according to Google StreetView.
After our FOCUS report, Roadside Maintenance crews with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have replaced a section of rail; however, on closer inspection, damaged parts appear to be reused, a part is missing, and certain posts are still leaning.
PHOTOS | Crew installs parts on guardrails in Kentucky
“We have guardrail safety theater across the entire United States,” Eimers said. “The illusion of safety, but it’s all an act, it’s all fake.”
Although the issue with most problem guardrails was damage from vehicle strikes, our general inspection discovered two guardrails with mismatched parts.
They are called “frankensteined” guardrails, where parts are put together from completely different systems.
The first one was on US-31 in the Clarksville, IN area, located just about a mile from an Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) compound.
Despite the proximity, that guardrail had been overlooked for at least 15 years, according to Google StreetView.
INDOT fixed the guardrail with the right parts due to our reporting.
Meanwhile, back in Kentucky, a long stretch of guardrail on Lexington Road was extremely damaged and was also put together with mismatched parts.
Eimers called it one of the worst frankensteined guardrails he’s ever seen.
Louisville Metro Public Works had that frankensteined system replaced, ironically, on Halloween.
It was at least a $26,000 job, which Public Works says was a bigger one needing to be outsourced to a specialized contractor.
When asked would they have known about the guardrail if FOCUS didn’t bring it to the city’s attention, Jeffrey Brown, the assistant director of engineering at Public Works, said, “It would have come up the next time we went to pave Lexington Road, which is probably still 10 or 12 years out.”
Brown points out that Metro Public Works only has about 500 workers for a city with 600,000 to 700,000 people.
“I would love to be in a position where we’re proactively inspecting every roadway thoroughly every year,” he said. “We’re just not in that position.”
State Senator David Yates, D-District 37, is a member of the Senate Transportation Committee and addressed the need for more inspection.
“I think there’s major room for improvement,” Yates said. “We can make sure that some of the man hours are used to better report, identify and replace.”
Yates believes the state currently relies too much on police to report damaged or destroyed guardrails due to vehicle crashes.
“I think these type of stories bring it to the forefront,” he said. “I think it’s going to hopefully light a fire amongst several of us to be able to sit down and maybe figure something out so that we don’t continue to lose lives when we have opportunity to save it.”
Yates pledges to take up this public safety issue heading into the next legislative session.
“We know that guardrails save lives, we know that they’re there for a reason, and we know that failure to repair them timely will cost lives,” he said.
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