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Probe Ends With 3% of Guardrails Replaced: State Transportation Department Has Recouped $800,000 of the $2.3 Million Cost of Inspection.

Posted on: Thursday, 11 May 2006, 12:06 CDT

By Ashley Rowland, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

May 11--Three percent of Tennessee's 11,000 guardrail end terminals were found to be substandard and were replaced last year after a massive inspection of the state's guardrail system, according to Tennessee Department of Transportation officials.

"We didn't really know what to expect. It could have been worse. It could have been better," TDOT spokeswoman Kim Keelor said.

Transportation Department officials previously had refused to release details about the 3 1 /2-month inspection that ended last summer, citing state Attorney General Paul Summers' ongoing investigation into the matter. TDOT officials began the inspections last May after a whistleblower told department personnel that a guardrail company, Lu Inc. of Kingston Springs, purposely cut posts while installing them.

A TDOT audit found some posts were sunk a foot deep instead of the 44 inches required by law.

Ms. Keelor said the Transportation Department has recouped $800,000 of the $2.3 million cost of the inspection and replace- ments from guardrail contractors. She said she could not name the contractors because of the attorney general's investigation.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press asked TDOT on Tuesday to provide the location of the replaced guardrails, the reason each was replaced, the date of replacement and the contractor who installed it. The attorney general's office still was reviewing that open records request Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Keelor said.

Lu attorney Hal Hardin said the company has not been asked to reimburse TDOT for any of the replaced guardrails. The Transportation Department suspended Lu last spring from doing further work for the state, and officials decided last month to extend that suspension for another six months.

Lu officials filed a lawsuit against TDOT in September that alleges the department illegally suspended the company from doing guardrail work. A judge will hear arguments in that lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court on June 20. A judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit in December at TDOT's request and ruled that the Tennessee Road Builders Association could file a friendof-the-court brief in support of the lawsuit. Road builders officials have said the Transportation Department's actions could affect other road companies.

"Everybody that does contracting business with TDOT is going to be watching this, for sure," said Scott Derrick, another Lu attorney.

He said Lu was the first company affected by TDOT's current suspension and debarment rules and that Lu never has been granted a hearing with the department to contest its suspension.

According to a brief filed April 21, TDOT did not give Lu officials specific reasons why the company was being suspended.

"Plaintiffs received inadequate notice of the charges against them. Plaintiffs were deprived of any meaningful opportunity to be heard," the brief stated.

Ms. Keelor said TDOT officials followed what they believed were proper procedures in dealing with Lu. The Transportation Department has begun a rigorous training program for its guardrail inspectors in hopes of preventing more bad installations, she said.

TDOT accused a second company last year of installing faulty guardrails and banned the business, East Ridge-based KRD Corp., from working for the state. Transportation Department officials reinstated KRD as a prequalified bidder last June after reviewing the company's work.

E-mail Ashley Rowland at arowland@timesfreepress.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

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Source: Chattanooga Times/Free Press

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