06:08 PM EDT on Friday, June 30, 2006

A semi-tractor trailer crashes into another car. The impact forces the semi carrying auto parts into the median. It crosses over into oncoming traffic.

It's the type of crash transportation officials hope to minimize with cable barriers now being installed.

Right now they're being installed on Interstate 64 but father east from the Cochran Hill Tunnel to Breckinridge Lane, but for now will not be installed close to the Story Avenue exit where the crash occurred Friday.

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“We wanted to look at areas that had high incidence of crossover crashes -- high traffic areas and the more narrow of the median width. Interstate 64 in that area has a 40 foot width median,” says Andrea Clifford of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

The barriers are also being installed along Interstate 71 from the Ohio Street Bridge near downtown to just north of the Jefferson/Oldham county line.

The four-cable system is a pilot program and may be expanded after its effectiveness is evaluated.

We wondered would a cable barrier stop an 18-wheeler? We asked the manufacturer of these barriers about that. The simple answer is no one really knows.

Tests show the cables will stop a 2 and half-ton box truck, but no officials tests have been done on the full force of a semi.