I-65 barriers are being considered

By BRAD DICKERSON

GLASGOW — Dave Lawson’s daughter wanted to postpone her July wedding, but was told her mother and sister would not have wanted that.

Lawson, of Elizabethtown, lost his wife and other daughter – Myra Lawson, 51, and Cassandra Lawson, 22, – in a multiple-vehicle crossover crash March 19 on Interstate 65 in Hart County.

Jennifer Lawson, Cassandra’s twin sister, was injured in the crash. Her father said she suffered bruises over 80 percent of her body and still sees a physical therapist for neck pain.

“She’s having nightmares about (the accident) and probably will for several years,” he said.

Lawson is focusing his attention not only on his daughter’s upcoming wedding, but also on his Web site, www.barriersnow.com.

Started on April 1, the site is a forum where members can gather and post facts and data on interstate crashes and discuss the importance of having barriers installed in medians.

The March 19 crash killed Lawson’s wife and daughter, and an Auburn family of three. It had been preceded by a triple-fatality collision on I-65 in Hart County on March 3.

“Our ultimate goal is to make the Legislature and the transportation (department) listen and see,” Lawson said, adding that he has e-mailed state officials and members of the transportation cabinet to inform them about the site.

State transportation officials are considering installing cable barriers along a section of I-65 between Elizabethtown and Bowling Green.

“Secretary (Joe) Prather has ordered an analysis of crossover crashes on all Kentucky interstates, (with) the idea being to identify areas in which such crashes occur in clusters – if in fact they do – and where median cable barriers might make a positive difference,” Keirsten Jaggers, KYTC information manager, wrote in an e-mail. “That analysis is expected to reach the secretary’s desk sometime next week.”

There are no funds to widen the four-lane section between Elizabethtown and Bowling Green in the near future. Jeff Moore, planning chief for the Department of Highways in Bowling Green, said the cable barriers have been installed in the Louisville and Lexington areas to help prevent crossover crashes.

Jaggers said there have been 284 impacts to Louis-ville’s three cable barrier systems since the installation in 2006 and 2007.

“One of those hits was a crossover where a tractor-trailer truck went over the barrier system and into the opposing lanes of traffic,” she said. “In all other instances, the cable barriers have prevented the vehicles from entering the opposing travel lanes.”

The cable barriers cost about $200,000 per mile, according to Jaggers. She could not specify when or where they would be installed on I-65.

Lawson said he has learned through information he has obtained for his Web site that cable is the cheapest barrier that could be installed and is “more forgiving.”

“The cables stretch and gives a little,” he said. “They allow the vehicle that’s crossing to absorb some of its impact in the cables.”

Mike Swift, director of the Barren-Metcalfe County Am-bulance Service, said news that transportation officials are considering installing the cable barriers is “long, long, long overdue.”

“My first preference is the barrier wall, but at the same time, after realizing that may not be possible – and it’s certainly a lengthy process – certainly the cable barriers are effective,” he said.

Swift has worked a number of fatal accidents on I-65, specifically on a stretch in Barren County between mile markers 43 and 53 that emergency services refer to as “death valley.”

Adding barriers would be a step in a direction he would like to go.

“It’s been something that we have lobbied for, that I have lobbied for,” Swift said. “I hope they start tomorrow.”

Lawson “could almost guarantee” that if the barriers had been in place on March 19, his wife and daughter would be alive today. Like Swift, he is also glad to hear officials are considering the measure.

“The news that they’re looking at it is better than the news I had before,” Lawson said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.