Archive for the ‘Traffic Safety’ Category
Traffic Barricade Types – What Do They Mean
If you are in the market for traffic barricades but don’t know too much about them you have come to the right spot. First off, the type of barricade has to do with how many boards and/or pieces of sheeting a barricade has. Note: ‘sheeting’ is short for reflective sheeting, the orange and white striped piece you see on the barricade. The first barricade on the left is a type 1, the second a type 2 and the third one is the type 3.
A type 1 barricade has a piece of sheeting on the top board only, and the barricade itself is usually 24″ wide and 42-46″ high (depending on if it is open or closed at the bottom). It still has a bottom board,
but the board has no sheeting on it. A type 2 barricade has sheeting on both the top and bottom board of the barricade. Like the type 1 it is the same size (24″ wide and 42-26″ high).
The type 3 is a very different unit because it can range from 48″ to 144″+ in width. As you can see there are three boards, which command a lot more attention to the unit. These are great for road closures where you need to cover wide distances. The sheeting is on all three of the boards typically.
Now sheeting can have different types too. They range in the amount of reflectivity, starting with the lowest: Engineer Grade, Hi Intensity and Diamond Grade. For most instances Engineer Grade works fine.
Tips On Getting Your Traffic Safety Equipment On Time
In this industry, planning ahead is not always an option and when you need something you usually need it ASAP. Lots of companies will say they can get your product to you on time but following through with that promise can be an issue – and the last thing you want are fines from the FAA or DOT for not having your safety equipment installed by the agreed upon date.
Something to realize is that most of the time your products are going on a pallet so they are shipping via LTL (Less than Truckload) which can be slow! When getting a shipping quote from your supplier ask for a few quotes based on transit time. For example, going from CA to PA may be 7 business days transit time, pay a few hundred more and get it in 5 business days.
These shortened transit times are not always available but it never hurts to ask. And when it comes to total lead times (time to leave the warehouse + transit time) make sure it’s clear whether you are talking business days or ‘regular days’. 10 business days is actually 14 ‘regular’ days.
The last piece of advice is to set up an appointment with the freight company for delivery as soon as it ships out. Ask your supplier for the number and make sure if an appointment needs to be set up, it is set up. Otherwise, the product may sit in a local terminal for an extra day while they call you and set up an window for delivery. So this makes sure you get the product as soon as it arrives in town. This is almost always the case for residential type deliveries.
If you need a traffic safety product such as traffic cones or barricades within a certain date we will do our best to help you out. Check out our website at www.trans-supply.com or call us directly at (866) 930-4604.
How to Make Your Traffic Safety Products Last Longer
Traffic safety products are temporary in nature and are designed to be replaced every now and again, however this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of your equipment to make it last as long as possible. Keeping them clean is the first step in helping to prolong the life, but here are some more specific tips:
Plastic Products: When your plastic products (such as traffic cones, plastic traffic barricades etc) are stored, try to keep them out of direct sunlight. This will help to stop the breakdown and fading of the PVC plastic and reflective sheeting. Otherwise the sheeting will become brittle faster.
Wood Barricades: If your wood barricades are in shrink wrapped pallets keep them in a dry place. This is because if the pallets end up getting wet and don’t have a chance to dry the dampness will turn to mold ruining the barricades. If you are going to put them in storage, you must remove the shrink wrap.
Stacking products: Most traffic safety products (besides delineators) are stack-able with or without the bases attached which saves a bunch of space. However the weight of the bases can cause the products to get stuck together depending on a) the weight of the base and b) how long they have been store for.
To see our full line of traffic safety products check out our website www.trans-supply.com
Blocking and Enclosing an Area – The Frugal Guide
You are in charge of finding the most economical way to enclose or completely block off a given area. How do you approach this? Well, first order of business is finding out the distance that needs to be covered as well as how durable the products need to be.
Figuring out the distance that needs to be covered is just a matter of going out to the area with a tape measure. But knowing how durable the products need to be means you need to know what you are blocking the public from. Is it a giant hole in the sidewalk? You are going to want to use Jersey Barriers or barricades that are hard to move, to prevent a car or person from falling in. How about electric wires dangling near a sidewalk? I would again recommend hard to move barricades, as well as a sign warning of the wires.
It really comes down to the level of danger. If it’s just a bump in the sidewalk or a pothole you can use delineators with caution tape looped through them. These can be called ‘Ringtop’ or ‘Looper’ Tubes and allow caution tape to be inserted through the loops or rings on top.
For the high danger areas traffic barriers filled with water or sand (to make them hard to move) linked together with high intensity barricade lights blinking on top will give adequate enclosure.
For medium danger blocking, try parade barricades back to back closing off the whole area. Mounting a barricade light on top will help the barricades be seen at night.
And really as mentioned above for the low danger areas all you need is a delineator with a hole on top so caution tape or rope can be looped through. The weight of the base is going to add on to your shipping cost so go as light as possible. 10lbs will usually do the trick unless you are in a high wind area. Also there is most likely no need for reflective tape on the delineators unless this is being used on a road.
Now some tips to get your costs down – choose the lowest weight (when empty) traffic barrier because when it’s filled with water even the lightest barrier will be almost impossible to move from an impact.
With the parade barricades you don’t need sheeting on both sides as each barricade will serve the purpose of just warning those on the outside of the enclosure – not the inside.
Traffic Barriers from Pennsylvania – How to Estimate Shipping
This other version of Jersey Barrier comes from PA. This is a good option if you are on the East Coast or around PA as shipping can be a killer if you are too far away from the warehouse. We have them in 100lbs, 130lbs and 170lbs. Check them out here.
Some water is still going to be in the barrier (as they water test them) and it usually adds 3lbs. So if a barrier is 100lbs use 103lbs when calculating the weight of your shipment. Also this supplier doesn’t ship on pallets, so no need to calculate the weight of the pallet.
We don’t have a lot of info on this particular barrier because we haven’t sold a lot of them yet, but we do have shipping rates for East Coast shipments. I will be sure to update this post as new quotes come in.
East Coast
400lbs for $318 to NY = 80 cents a pound
1330lbs for $662 to MD = 50 cents a pound
618lbs for $271 to PA = 44 cents a pound
2781lbs for $718 to NY = 26 cents a pound
West Coast
no data yet on this one. Will update.
South
1236lbs for $940 to TX = 76 cents a pound
45320lbs for $12,750 to FL = 28 cents a pound
Midwest
no data yet on this one. Will update.
Need help calculating your shipping still? Or need an exact quote? Give me a call (413) 281-6393.