We were told that they repainted all the guardrails and did not replace any. We will check this out in July. 6/13/00 Why would they repaint substandard guardrails???? WoW! They should spend there time and money making them safe.

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Oklahoma is installing new guardrails (turndown and bluntend) that are not legal on the NHS. 4/2/00 is the date of the pictures. It shows brand new guardrails that do not meet any current standards. These new turndowns are on highway 59 south of Jay.

There are also new turndowns and bluntends in Grove and the surrounding areas. We have written the officials of Oklahoma including the Governor and the FHWA to get the terrible installations removed. These guardrails should be replaced immediately. It would be our opinion that the State could be very liable for the type and way the guardrails were installed. 6/6/00 UPDATE: We received a letter from the FHWA that said they are not required to remove the bluntend guardrails on the low speed, low volume roads on the NHS.

He said that the bluntends would be legal on these roads. We have read the memorandum forward and backward and see nothing that eliminates these highways from being required to upgrade the bluntends. Click here to read the MEMORAMDUM. Please write the officials in the area and ask them to meet the current standards. It may be your best friend that is injured or killed.

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We would ask the FHWA to point out in the memorandum the area that says the bluntend terminals don't have to be removed on all of the by Sept. 29, 1996. This picture shows the height of the new turndown guardrail. This is installed at 18 inches to the top of the rail and should be 27 inches to the top of the rail. Instead of stopping a car this would most likely rip a hole in the gas tank.

This is another picture of the above rail installed at 18 inches. There are probably around 50 new installations of W-beam rail in the area that do not meet any current standards.

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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.

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