After $478,386 inspection, TDOT removing problem guardrails

TDOT spokeswoman Kim Keelor said inspectors had a list of items to look for during their review.

“We never were able to come up with a method to test them that did not involve pulling (up the posts)” Keelor said. “It’s more cost-effective to pull them.”

The review of the guardrails started in May following reports that some posts had been cut short. Replacement of improperly installed posts will continue through the end of the year.

Keelor said Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers directed that results of the TDOT inspections not be released. Summers’ spokeswoman, Sharon Curtis-Flair, said the attorney general could not release information about possible litigation.

Officials said TDOT inspectors would replace any deficient guardrails they pull and reinstall those that were put in place correctly the first time.

Keelor said the state would try to recover the inspection costs from companies that installed the guardrails.

Transportation workers started inspecting the state’s 4,000 miles of guardrails after an audit showed that Lu Inc. of Kingston Springs, Tenn., sank some guardrails only 12 inches deep, rather than 44 inches as required by state law.

TDOT officials said a few weeks later that KRD Corp. of East Ridge also had installed unsafe guardrails. TDOT has since reinstated KRD Corp. as a prequalified bidder.

Executives of both companies have denied wrongdoing.