Virginia is First State to Remove Trinity Modified Guardrail

Virginia is to become the first state to remove a Trinity Industries Inc. guardrail product from state-maintained roads, after officials there cited the company’s failure to meet a deadline for crash-testing a modified version of its ET-Plus end terminal.

ET-Plus is mounted on the end of a guardrail to absorb the impact of a crashing car. The revised version is alleged to lock-up on impact, potentially spearing cars and endangering their occupants.

Virginia has installed more than 11,000 guardrail end terminals since 2006, according to Marshall Herman, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Herman, who stated in an interview that she doesn’t know how many of the terminals to be removed were made by Trinity, said the company was informed of the state’s intentions in an Oct. 24 letter.