TDOT temporarily bans guardrail installer from new contracts
KRD Corp. can continue working on three contracts already started, according to a Wednesday letter from TDOT Commissioner Jerry Nicely to KRD President David Stutz.
“We still remain very concerned about the deficiencies that have been found,” the letter stated.
TDOT spokewoman Kim Keelor said KRD would not be allowed to bid on new work at least through July.
“They have agreed not to bid this summer on at least two lettings,” Keelor said.
Keelor said TDOT was indefinitely suspending Lu Inc. of Kingston Springs, another company accused of faulty guardrail work, from bidding on TDOT contracts.
“They are contesting that,” she said.
State and federal transportation officials and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and FBI are investigating the guardrail work.
Lu Inc. routinely sank guardrail posts 12 inches into the ground instead of the required 44 inches, a TDOT audit showed. It also said work crews did not completely replace some damaged guardrail terminals, sometimes using parts that vehicles had hit.
A Lu Inc. attorney said in a letter that company executives contend that of the thousands of posts already examined by TDOT, about 2 percent of the posts were likely cut short, “some by a few inches, and some by several inches.
“The alleged danger to the motoring public arising from those few cut posts has been grossly overstated,” the letter states.
Lu Inc. had been the subcontractor on $20 million worth of highway work in Tennessee since 1998.
Keelor has said TDOT officials hope to finish inspections of nearly 3,000 miles of guardrails by Sept. 1.
Scott Brown, KRD’s attorney, said TDOT should allow KRD to bid on future contracts based on past performance.
“They (KRD) haven’t done anything deliberately wrong that I’m aware of,” Brown said.
TDOT officials gave KRD a list of about 30 items inspectors had found faulty. Most of those items were insignificant, he said, and included things such as using an incorrectly sized washer on a guardrail.
KRD workers fixed those problems as soon as TDOT reported them, Brown said.
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Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com