Trans-Supply Blog – Road & Airport Safety At It's Best

Commuting to work you may notice a large amount of traffic drums or traffic barrels on the side of the road.  They mean construction season because they are used to barricade the traffic from the construction on the side of the road.  You may even see blinking barricade lights on top of the traffic drum.

Traffic drums are typically either orange or yellow.  The orange ones have reflective bands, and the yellow ones are bigger and are usually found at the off ramps for exits.  They are filled with sand and used to cushion any potential impact.

Though it depends on the manufacturer of the traffic drums, here is an idea of the different options you may get when purchasing traffic drums.  There are different types of bases, but the snap on base typically comes in 25, 30 and 40 lb options.  The sand bag option is cheaper to ship because it allows the base to be filled with sand, therefore making the base weigh less.

There are also typical tire ring bases which are just drop overs.  They weigh about 2 lbs.  There are also tire ring bases which are around 28lbs.

Before or after buying a traffic drum, you may have problems with the drum or just questions regarding your drum.  There are not too many variables when it comes to drums, but I am going to lay out some of them in this post.  For reflective tape, you should try and find the correct grade of tape for your job.

The traffic drum height may be another variable.  The height can be measured from the top of the drum handle to the base of the drum, or from the top of the drum (not the handle) and down to the base.

Traffic drums are almost always orange.  You see them on the side of the road, on the highway, the freeway, in your town.  I have personally never seen traffic drums that are not orange, but they are out there.

Black traffic drums are more common in areas that are colder, they can be used as marking devices in snowy areas.  The problem is that traffic drums need to be bought in quantities around 5000 (usually) in order to change the drum color.

Though I have not come across many people who have had a problem or an issue with their traffic drum, I am sure they exist.  One issue I know about is the shape of the bottom of the drum.  Supposedly it is a federal spec that they have to be made in such a way that if they fall over, they do not roll.

One of the solutions is to make a drum that is an oval shape at the bottom.  Another way of solving this is by making a drum with lips or ridges at the bottom to stop it from rolling.