Traffic Barriers

WHY ARE TRAFFICBARRIERS IMPORTANT?

Traffic barriers keep vehicles within their roadway and prevent vehicles from colliding with dangerous obstacles

PREVENTION Traffic barriers

installed at the road side also prevent out

of control vehicles from traversing

steep (non-recoverable) slopes

Common Sites for Installation of

Traffic Barriers:

Bridge ends Near steep slopes from

roadway limits At drainage crossings or

culverts where steep or vertical drops are present

Near large signs/ illumination poles or other roadside elements which may pose hazards

Roadside Barriers used to protect traffic

from roadside obstacles or hazards, such as:• slopes steep enough to

cause rollover crashes• fixed objects like bridge piers• bodies of water

used as wide medians, to prevent vehicles from colliding with hazards within the median

MEDIANS used to prevent

vehicles from crossing over a

median and striking an oncoming vehicle in a head-on crash Unlike roadside barriers, they must be designed to be struck from either

side

Bridge Barrier

designed to restrain vehicles from crashing off the side of a

bridge and falling onto the roadway, river or railroad below

usually higher than roadside barriers, to prevent trucks, buses,

pedestrians and cyclists from vaulting or rolling over the barrier

and falling over the side of the structure

Bridge rails are usually multi-rail tubular steel barriers or

reinforced concrete parapets and barriers

Work Zone Barriers

used to protect traffic from hazards in work zones

distinguishing feature is they can be relocated as conditions change in the road works

advantages can be that they are assembled without heavy lifting equipment

SAFER Barrier The “Steel and Foam Energy Reduction

(SAFER) barrier” – sometimes called a “soft wall” – is a technology found primarily on oval automobile race tracks and intended to make racing accidents safer

It was designed by a team of engineers led by Dean Sicking at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

SAFER Barrier

Initially installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002, in time for the Indianapolis 500

first "tested" by Robby McGehee in a crash during the first day of practice

The theory behind the design is that the barrier absorbs a portion of the kinetic energy released when a race car makes contact with the wall• This energy is dissipated along a longer portion of the wall,

instead of propelling the car back into traffic on the track The SAFER barrier also lessens damage to the car

itself, thereby reducing repair costs.

SAFER Barrier

Traffic Barrier Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQd

1Hg0Nt30&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTrbUokgohk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5axpBcwkXD0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEqfJoefdkU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxattLEYmpo&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL