LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – It was a $20,000 move by Kentucky transportation officials to try and ease backups and accidents on the Kennedy Bridge: Bigger, better traffic control lane separator sticks. The intent is to keep drivers from cutting into other lanes. But in its first test Friday, the move temporarily backfired.
A few months ago, Indiana Department of Transportation workers put out some small lane separators on the Kennedy Bridge to help with the problems, but drivers ran right over them. So this time Kentucky got involved, but the Friday commute turned out to be a bumpy one.
"People said if they didn't have to cross the bridge they would not," said driver Tina Crane," it has been horrible all day."
It's a constant complaint in the Kennedy Bridge traffic mess - southbound drivers on I-65 cutting over into the right hand lane at the last minute to get to the exit ramps for I-64 and I-71. The first separators didn't do the trick.
"We had a lot of people email and call us and ask us to replace them," said Andrea Clifford, public information officer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
So the KYTC ordered bigger, more durable post. At $59 each the flexible four foot tall markers aren't cheap. According to Clifford, KTYC put about 340 of them on the Kennedy Bridge costing $20,000 from the maintenance budget.
"That's crazy," Crane said," that it's coming out of our pocket all those stop sticks?"
Clifford said that according to the specifications, the new markers can take 200 hits at 60 miles per hour and still bounce back. But during Friday's first test at least 15 of them bit the dust and nearly all of them have damage thanks to drivers who ran right over them.
"A lot of people don't care because they think of them just as cones, so they think somebody will be there to pick them up," Crane said.
Despite the damage, transportation officials say the posts didn't break from their base. They believe the adhesive didn't have time to cure and they can be reset over the weekend or early next week. That's fine with drivers like Roger Martin who waited in Friday's traffic and said he will put up with a little delay if the safety posts keep him away from impatient and dangerous drivers.
"I think they're a great idea and the only thing that I could see that would be better would be concrete," he laughed.
Transportation officials ordered 400 posts in all. They still have about 60 to spare.
Another note for drivers: The entrance ramp from Story Avenue to westbound I-64 will close beginning Monday, January 9. KYTC officials said drivers have been ignoring the stop sign at the top of the ramp and there have been 11 crashes there since the closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge.
Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.
Tina Crane
Andrea Clifford
Roger Martin
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