LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) In about three months, construction will resume within the medians along Interstate 10.
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) crews are preparing to install cable barriers to help prevent median crossover collisions.
DOTD says the upcoming project through Acadiana will cost around $14 million for nearly 41.1 miles of interstate.
“I have a crushed right foot and the only option is to put a rod in. My left foot has titanium screws and 13 staples in the back of my head,” vehicle accident survivor Ed Perkins of Lafayette stated.
Perkins says he has scars from the accident in 2007.
Perkins explains a car crossed the median along I-10 near the Scott Exit and slammed into his that was vehicle traveling on the other side of the interstate.
“It’s 14 years too late for me but I hope it saves somebody else from what I had to go through or even worse,” Perkins added.
DOTD SAYS the $14 million project involves cable barriers in the medians from the parish line of Acadia and Jefferson Davis to the Lafayette and St. Martin parish line.
DOTD Public Information Officer, Deidra Druilhet says cable barriers are an innovative and cost-effective solution to collisions that usually result in fatalities.
“It’s basically set up to absorb the impact of that collision. It prevents that vehicle that’s in the median from going into oncoming traffic but at the same time it absorbs the collision to prevent it from bouncing back into the traffic from which it just came,’ Druilhet stated.
“It basically holds that vehicle in the median and it can’t go in either direction which could lead to possible fatalities,” Druilhet explained.
Druilhet says as of February, the state has installed just over 530 miles of cable barriers throughout Louisiana.
“You could possibly see the start of construction probably around this summer; maybe around three months or so,” Druilhet said.
“I think it’s well overdue and I hope it prevents someone from being injured,” Perkins added.