Blumenthal, Schumer Raise Red Flags On FHWA Testing Of Potentially-Defective Guardrails: In Letter To Federal Highway Administration, Senators Call For State-Of-The-Art Methodology, Transparency In Testing

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) wrote Gregory Nadeau--Acting Administrator of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)--to express ongoing concerns regarding the FHWA's evaluation of defective ET-Plus guardrail and end terminals.

The Senators each wrote Nadeau late last year urging the FHWA to ensure thorough and adequate testing of ET-Plus guardrail and terminals. The Senators found the FHWA's response and public comments to these concerns to be inadequate and are asking the administration to take immediate action to address potential shortfalls in oversight:

"In light of the lack of clear information from FHWA, we find it difficult to maintain confidence that your agency is taking proper action to ensure that the device meets the highest safety standards," the senators wrote. "In order to rest assured that ET-Plus guardrail end terminals are safe, we strongly urge FWHA to ensure that testing -- which is now underway in Texas -- use the most up-to-date methodology, be conducted on the products as they actually exist and perform on our roads, and be fully open and transparent. The testing now underway fails on all of these fronts, so we are writing to reiterate our concerns about apparent flaws in the process and ask you to rectify them immediately."

The letter asks the FHWA not only to ensure that testing of these guardrails relies on thorough and modern protocols, but also immediately to release specifications of models being tested, open testing to the public, and inform the Senators of future plans to test the device in the field to ensure its safety on our roads.

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