This is the media article that my children liked best. I agree. We also liked the coverage by Elizabeth Donatelli at Wave3.com
[SIZE=5]Demand for barriers pays off [/SIZE][SIZE=5]
[/SIZE] Gov. Steve Beshear, left, shakes hands with wreck survivor Jennifer Lawson as she is introduced by her father, Dave, on Wednesday morning before a press conference.
Photo by Neal Cardin
Kentucky legislators from various districts stand behind Gov. Steve Beshear as he announces Kentucky will begin the installation of cable barriers in the median of Interstate 65 from Barren County to Jefferson County including Hardin County during a press conference Wednesday morning at the southbound rest area near Munfordville.
65
Photo by Neal Cardin
Dave Lawson, granddaughter Veronica Walker, 4, and daughter Jenny all wear buttons with Cassandra and Myra's photo at the press conference in Munfordville.
By MARTY FINLEY
mfinley@thenewsenterprise.com
HART COUNTY — With sweat on his brow, Elizabethtown resident Dave Lawson sat with his daughters, Jenny and Jolene, in the early morning sun Wednesday at the Hart County rest area on Interstate 65 and prepared for the announcement he did not expect to hear — at least not so soon.
Lawson has been lobbying vigorously for the state to install cable median barriers along I-65 and other Kentucky roadways since losing his wife, Myra, and daughter Cassandra in a March 19 crossover crash near Munfordville that also injured his daughter Jenny. David, Madeleine and Megan McGrath of Logan County also were killed after their pickup hydroplaned, crossed the median and crashed into the Lawsons’ van.
And while the announcement was brief, it resonated like a thunderclap with Lawson.
Gov. Steve Beshear, standing at a lectern on the grounds of the rest stop, announced a $10.8 million project Wednesday to install cable median barriers along 34 miles of I-65 in Hardin, Bullitt, Barren and Hart counties, as well as another 10.2 miles of barriers on the Gene Snyder Freeway in Jefferson County.
Beshear said the decision was prompted by an increase in crossover crashes in Kentucky and the success the state already has experienced with the barriers.
Two years ago, the state installed cable barriers on Interstates 64, 71 and 265 in Jefferson and Oldham counties. And last summer, barriers were installed on New Circle Road in Lexington.
Beshear said cars already have struck the barriers on those highways at least 385 times, but an estimated 299 vehicles were stopped from crossing over into opposing lanes of traffic.
Last year brought a six-year low in highway deaths, and the second consecutive year that Kentucky saw a decline in highway fatalities, Beshear said. This year, highway deaths are down from 419 to 367 — a 12 percent decrease — as of Monday, Beshear said. But it is only a start, he said.
“That’s still too many, and we refuse to be satisfied,” Beshear said.
Transportation Secretary Joe Prather of Elizabethtown said he hoped this project would be the initial step to installing barriers along all of Kentucky’s interstates and highways that need them.
A time frame for installation has not been set because the barriers have to be designed fit the terrain of the road, but Prather projected that it would take a few months.
The announcement comes less than a week after House Resolution 5 was passed unanimously, 94-0, in support of cable median barriers. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, urged the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to make cable median barriers one of its highest priorities and all 94 legislators signed on as co-sponsors.
Moore could not attend the announcement ceremony, but told The News-Enterprise on Tuesday that the announcement wasn’t about him, but was about the safety of Kentucky and its drivers. He credits Lawson’s tenacity as a key reason why he introduced the resolution.
Lawson said he was filled with a mixture of emotions at the announcement, feeling both joy and relief that the barriers were to become a reality. He said he never expected that they would garner so much support so quickly.
“It’s scary,” he said.
But Lawson will feel even better when he sees the workers installing the barriers with his own two eyes, he said.
In April, The News-Enterprise reported that 12 crossover crashes had occurred from April 23, 2007, to March 19, 2008, resulting in 14 deaths and 12 injuries.
Lawson said the extensive reporting on the scope of crossover crashes in that story and others alerted him to the severity of the situation. Since then, Lawson has partnered with other families who have lost loved ones in crossover crashes, including the family of 23-year-old Jesse Keeling, a Western Kentucky University graduate student and Louisville native who died of injuries sustained in a crossover crash May 3 while she was driving to Louisville from Bowling Green.
“Obviously what we’re doing today can never bring back your loved ones,” Beshear said to Lawson and his family, “but hopefully it will prevent similar kinds of tragedies for other families.”
Lawson and his family traveled to Louisville with the governor Wednesday, where Beshear also presented the proposal for the cable barriers.
Prather said I-65 and Gene Snyder Freeway were not randomly chosen, but were recommended by engineers who analyzed Kentucky roadways and determined the critical points in need of more safety precautions.
Beshear said he is excited about the project and that the state is ready to work. “We want to hit the ground running,” he said.
Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762.
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Best article
Linear Mode
