INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Kansas to install highway median cables

Topeka,KAN,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker -12 May 2009: -- Kansas highway officials said Tuesday they would begin installing cables in medians to lower the number of crossover crashes... The Kansas Department of Transportation said the intent is reduce the number of traffic deaths due to crossover accidents on busy stretches of roadway. Such fatal crashes in Missouri have dropped since that state started installing the cables in 2000... The Kansas Department of Transportation said the intent of installing highway cables is to reduce the number of traffic deaths due to crossover accidents on busy stretches of roadway... (Photo: A case in which a cable stopped a commercial truck from crossing into lanes of traffic)


* TDOT: I-40 will re-open June 12 ahead of schedule

Knoxville,TENN,USA -The Trucker News Services -12 May 2009: -- I-40 in Downtown Knoxville will re-open to traffic on June 12. Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner, Gerald Nicely, credited a "great team working on a model project," at a press conference today announcing the I-40 re-opening date for the SmartFIX40 project... The final phase of the SmartFIX40 project will be completed on time and I-40 will re-open to traffic 18 days ahead of the June 30 contract completion date. Construction crews will work until June 30, finishing up minor details and completing construction punch list items... (Photo: The final phase of the SmartFIX40 project will be completed on time and I-40 will re-open to traffic 18 days ahead of the June 30 contract completion date. Construction crews will work until June 30, finishing up minor details and completing construction punch list items)


* Wisconsin auditors say highway contractors skipped steps

Milkwaukee,WIS,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker, by DINESH RAMDE -12 May 2009: -- Contractors who poured concrete for Wisconsin highways often failed to measure the thickness of the pavement, making it impossible to confirm whether enough concrete was used, state auditors said Tuesday... Contractors are supposed to measure the thickness at regular intervals, and the state Department of Transportation is supposed to verify the measurements... But for 20 projects begun between 2006 and 2008, measurements were omitted in 11, according to a report by the Legislative Audit Bureau. The auditors acknowledge that the measurements might have been taken but not recorded... (Photo: For 20 projects begun between 2006 and 2008, measurements were omitted in 11, according to a report by the Legislative Audit Bureau)


* STRUCTURES... INFRA - Study: Rhode Island has among the nation’s worst roads

Providence,RI,USA -Associated Press/The Trucker, by Kevin Jones -13 May 2009: -- The study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials says more than two-thirds of the Rhode Island's major roads are in either “poor” or “mediocre” condition... A national transportation group is confirming something many Rhode Islanders may already suspect — the Ocean State has among the worst roads in the country... That makes Rhode Island the third-worst in the nation, ahead of only New Jersey and Hawaii... The study is based on federal data from 2007 and classifies roads in four categories — poor, mediocre, fair and good... State Transportation Director, Michael Lewis, tells The Providence Journal he’s not surprised. The department has said it needs $300 million per year over the next decade to repair roads and bridges...