Cable Barriers Will Be Installed In I-20 Median

A new safety feature will grace I-20 from the Texas state border to the Mississippi border. New cable barriers will be constructed in the median of the interstate, starting in Bossier and Webster Parishes.

Cable barriers serve a dual purpose.

"The cable barriers snag the vehicle and hold them," Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Sherri LeBas explained.  "They don't deflect them back into lanes of traffic or allow them to crossover."

This has proven to save lives.

"I am one of the fortunate to be able to tell you my daughter is alive today because of cable barriers," Bossier Parish Police Jury President Jimmy Cochran shared.  "About five years ago, she was run off the road and she should have gone across the highway."

Cochran noted that while many may look at a state like Texas, where his daughter happened to be, and wonder why they would spend the amount of money they do to install cable barriers.  He says his daughter is living proof of the reasons to install them.

Cable barriers grab on and hold to cars that run into them.  This is more effective in preventing a car from bouncing back into traffic and collect additional cars as well as keeping cars from running into opposite traffic.

Other forms of barriers you may see on highways are steel guardrails and concrete median barriers.  Guardrails are designed to help vehicles who collide into them to bounce back in the right direction to help the driver recover.  Concrete median barriers, also known as a Jersey barrier, are designed to minimize damage in minor accidents and prevent head-on collisions.

Concerned about a cable barrier's durability?  LeBas noted, "To date, we have not had one vehicle break through that cable barrier into opposing lanes of traffic."

"We have pretty modest views and requirements of what we want our government to do for us with our tax dollars," State Representative Jeff Thompson said.  "There's definitely nothing more important we are doing than making sure our roads are safe for our families, for our children to travel on."