Miss. bans guardrails amid questions
The Mississippi Department of Transportation has banned the use of highway and bridge guardrails that were the subject of a whistle-blower lawsuit in Texas.
Dallas-based Trinity Industries got hit with a $175 million dollar verdict last week after a federal jury found the company had defrauded the government after changing the design of the ET-Plus railhead without notifying the agency as required by law.
Mississippi joined six states that have banned the ET-Plus. Spokesman Jarrod Ravencraft said the agency is putting together an inventory of exactly where the railheads are. A railhead is a flat piece of steel at the front of a guardrail that is meant to slide along the rail on impact. Critics say the heads are dangerous because they could impale drivers. In the face of the verdict and safety concerns, Trinity announced Friday that it would stop selling the product until further testing, ordered by the Federal Highway Administration, could be completed.
Ravencraft said any decision to remove existing railheads would be made after those tests were completed. “We have not experienced any issues with this product in our state, and there have been no reports of any faulty ET-Plus guardrail end treatments installed on MDOT right of way,” Ravencraft said.
American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials executive director Bud Wright said in a statement the organization supported additional testing for the product.
“Safety of the traveling public is of paramount concern to state departments of transportation and AASHTO,” Wright said.
Individual states choose which guardrails and similar equipment to install, though the federal government determines what is eligible for reimbursement.
The FHWA sued Trinity in 2012, alleging fraud after it said it discovered that Trinity had certified the modified ET-Plus for reimbursement, even though the company had not notified regulators of the design change. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute — which owns the patent for the railhead — performed crash tests on the ET-Plus before it hit the market. The institute said last week it stands by the railhead’s integrity. The FHWA has prohibited the institute from performing additional crash tests on the product.
The $175 million verdict was calculated based on the amount the FHWA had reimbursed states that purchased the railheads. Texas law automatically triples the verdict to $525 million. Trinity said it plans to appeal.
Spending records show Mississippi has paid Trinity Highway Products — a subsidiary of Trinity Industries — $1.2 million the past 10 years. To go with railheads, the company makes guardrails, cable barriers, steel barrier posts, crash cushions and attenuators designed to reduce accidents in highway work zones.
Contact Clay Chandler at (601) 961-7264 or cchandler@ jackson.gannett.com. Follow @claychand on Twitter.
State spending with Trinity Highway Products by fiscal year
• FY 2014: $16,000
• FY 2013: $41,700
• FY 2012: $87,600
• FY 2011: $181,800
• FY 2010: $230,000
Source: seethespending.org