NORFOLK (WVEC) -- The Virginia Department of Transportation continues to move forward with its plan to replace a controversial guardrail that was once popular with state highway construction contractors, according to a letter sent late last month from the state's chief engineer.
The Trinity ET-Plus has come under scrutiny in the last year after a Virginia man filed a whistle-blower lawsuit and the media began looking into reports of hundreds of accidents involving the guardrail that resulted in deaths or serious injuries.
VDOT's letter comes after the ET-Plus passed four crash tests, which the company said should clear it for further use in Virginia and elsewhere across the country.
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Critics of the once-popular guardrail say the product is dangerous because its manufacturer, Trinity Industries, changed the design of the product. As a result of the design change, the guardrail end terminal is more narrow, making it harder for the guardrail to ribbon off to the side in the event of a crash. Instead, the guardrail can jam and spear through a car.
A federal jury in Texas ruled in October 2014 that the company defrauded the government by lying about the changes. Around the same time, VDOT told the company its modified ET-Plus was not approved for use on the state's highways.
At the time of VDOT's letter to Trinity, the state agency requested testing be completed on the product to prove it was safe.
Trinity paid to conduct a series of eight crash tests in December and January. The results of the first four tests--which tested the product at an installed height of 27 3/4 inches--were released in early February. According to the Federal Highway Administration, the product passed those tests.
After the test results were released, a spokesman for Trinity said the ET-Plus was only installed at the 27 3/4 inches height.
Despite the passing tests, a letter from VDOT's Chief Engineer Garrett Moore to Trinity Industries says the company must go through the standard approval process before the modified ET-Plus would be approved for use in Virginia. Moore added that even if the Federal Highway Administration signs off on the product, it does not automatically mean it will be cleared for use in Virginia.
In addition to the test results, Moore's letter says VDOT has reviewed additional information that was not disclosed by Trinity in response to requests for information in October.
'...The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has since had the opportunity to examine much additional information that Trinity Failed to disclose. This includes, but is not limited to, information regarding 5 failed crash tests conducted on the ET-PLUS."
On Monday, Trinity spokesman Jeff Eller pushed back on the claims Moore made in his letter.
"Trinity Highway Products (THP) has met each and every request for information from Virignia DOT (VDOT) since 2012," Eller said. "VDOT knows full well the '5 failed crash tests' conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and referred to in VDOT's February 20th letter to Trinity wre NOT an ET Plus® System, nor any commercialized system, and no such configuration like these TTI experiments has ever been manufactured or sold by Trinity or installed on Virginia roadways."
The results from the second series of four tests have not been released. The final crash test in that round has been the subject of debate between lawyers for whistle blower Joshua Harman and Trinity. Experts hired by Harman's attorneys have said the final test failed, while Trinity's spokesman said it is too early to tell.
Several members of congress have criticized the crash tests and have written Trinity and the Federal Highway Administration asking for more rigorous tests to be done.
In his letter, Moore also said VDOT continues to move forward with a plan for removal of the unapproved product.
VDOT posted a bid for work to identify and replace the modified ET-Plus in October. That bid period closed in January. At the time the bid closed, though, VDOT said it would only award the bid if it, in fact, planned to move forward with the work to find and remove the troubled guardrail.
The bid must include identifying modified ET-Plus end terminals because VDOT does not have a record where the product is installed around the state.
Highway contractors who have worked on VDOT contracts have told 13News Now that they have installed thousands of modified ET-Plus end terminals on highways around the state and in Hampton Roads.
A spokeswoman for VDOT did not immediately return comment on Monday seeking clarification on Moore's comments about the replacement work.
This article was updated to include comments from Trinity spokesman Jeff Eller.
