April 21, 2005

Paved With Good Intentions

Blake Wylie blogged the WSMV story about a company that has been caught installing guardrails improperly along many of Tennessee's highways - creating both a safety risk to motorists and a big expense for taxpayers. Wylie: TDOT is now going to be digging up the guardrails Lu installed...all of which is going to be paid for by Tennessee taxpayers, no doubt."

But of course.

The contractor, Lu, Inc., of Kingston Springs, Tenn., was caught installing guardrail posts much shorter than the specificed 44 inches - which could cause guardrails to fail when hit by a car. The substandard work came to light after a former Lu employee tipped off WSMV Channel 4 . The tipster also tipped off TDOT. The investigations have already lead to the FBI and TBI raiding Lu's offices, and to TDOT pulling Lu's contract.

You know what is really sad about this story? That TDOT, which is spending about $1.6 billion of federal and state taxpayer dollars this year, has no quality control mechanism that would catch this kind of problem without being tipped off.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen promised to reform TDOT and build a "new culture" at the agency, so TDOT is "ready to listen, consider, and respond – to community concerns, to environmental laws, to growth implications, and to cost considerations." He said his goal was for roadbuilding policy to lead to the building of "a road people can live with."

Apparently quality control wasn't part of Bredesen's TDOT reform.

While Lu's substandard work will cost all Tennessee taxpayers, some Tennesseans may also soon pay for it with their lives, if they hit a guardrail that fails.

UPDATE: In his efforts to balance the state budget the last two years, Bredesen transferred $65.4 million of gas tax revenue - which is supposed to be dedicated to transportation projects - to the state's general fund. Did cutting TDOT's budget have any impact on its quality-control efforts? If anyone at TDOT reads my blog and can answer that question, please do. I'll use your comments and any documentation you send while keeping you anonymous if that is your wish - and if I can verify for myself you actually do work at TDOT.
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For more scrutiny of the Bredesen record, see Bredesen Watch.