Cable Guardrails in Missouri I-435

Cable Guardrails in Missouri: or (25 mile cheeseslicer) We understand Missouri is going to install cable guardrail on I-435 in Kansas City. Why install an outdated cable system that will need to be replaced in a few years? The concrete barrier is safer and if built right will be worth the savings in life and money. Please MODOT, build the concrete median and make the roads as safe as possible. If someone on a motorcycle hits the cable guardrail it can cut them into several pieces like a cheese slicer. 10/24/00 UPDATE: There have been several accidents but no deaths that we know of. The cost of repairs should have been considered in putting in the cable guardrail.

Cable Guardrail Update:
Cable guardrail has been tested and has passed the NCHRP-350 crash test and can be used if installed properly. The maximum slope the cable guardrail can be installed on is 6:1 (can drop one foot from roadway shoulder in 6 feet) and the minimum amount of median required is 25 feet wide that it can be installed in. The maximum amount of give is normally 12 feet to stop a vehicle. Off the record they said one out of ten vehicles will penetrate the cable barrier and can enter the oncoming traffic. The cable guardrail would most likely have not stopped the large truck that killed a lady in Feb. 1999. We still recommend the concrete barrier because we consider it much safer. The concrete barrier would probably saved the lady above. 9/26/99 We just got word that a truck penetrated the cable guardrail at 435 and Gregory and injured several people. Was the cable guardrail still a bargain MODOT? We can not understand why they decided to save a few bucks and not prevent almost all of the crossover crashes.

Letter to Senator Harry Wiggins and FHWA January 10, 1999 Dear Senator Wiggins:

We were touched by your editorial in the Jackson County Advocate and feel it is time we get involved in the situation on I-435 in Kansas City. We have met several times. We are the ones who lost our beautiful 20 year old daughter, Judy, a Grandview High School graduate, in 1992 in a guardrail accident on I-70 in Kansas. Judy walked door to door with you one year when you were campaigning.

Anyway, we are very concerned with the cable barrier they are planning to install on I-435. The article in the Kansas City Star today, said they are installing that barrier to save lives and save money! They say they are saving money by not having to add lanes and fill in the ditch. If they install the cable barrier down in that ditch it will not work properly and will be a total waste of money. Some cars will just fly right over it making it a useless waste. We need to get the MDOT to assure us that it will be installed at the same level or near the level of the road shoulders. The concrete barrier is by far the preferable option in this situation. We were told that the concrete barrier saves one life for every 10 miles of road per year. Imagine what that would be over a ten year period.

Please let us know how your meeting went with the Highway Commission. Some type of barrier must get under way immediately. We would be happy to help in any way we possibly can. We are available to meet with any officials at anytime.

As to your request for opinions on DUI, we feel that the maximum penalty should always be given and that these repeat offenders should be kept off of the streets permanently. Regardless, however, of these laws, it is the responsibility of the MDOT to make the highways as safe as possible so innocent people are not made to suffer the consequences.

Please visit our Web site at www.98.net/roadsafety or e-mail guardrails@gmail.com
Sincerely,

Galen and Linda Bird

Cc: FHWA (Art Hamilton) We added to Mr. Hamilton's letter: Have the cable guardrails been tested to meet the NCHRP-350? If they have not passed this test it would be illegal for MODOT to install them in our opinion.

MDOT REMEMBER THAT:

"The bitterness of poor design lasts forever after the sweetness of cheapness is gone"

NOTE: If anyone has proof that any information is incorrect, please send it to us and the corrections will be made as soon as possible.