Posts Tagged ‘Traffic Barriers’
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.
Jersey barriers are known as K-rail to the western US (California Department of Transportation came up with K-rail). They are either concrete or plastic barrier walls used during highway construction to separate opposing lanes of traffic. The barriers we sell are plastic water fill-able barriers. They are easier to ship than concrete barriers because they weigh a lot less.
A typical jersey barrier is 32″ tall but lots are also 42″ tall. The first picture to the left is a 42 x 72″ water fill-able barrier. Jersey barriers were invented in New Jersey in the 1950’s at the Stevens Institute of Technology. The main goal of the barrier is to prevent head on collisions from the other lane when a vehicle goes off course.
The official name for a 42″ tall barrier is an Ontario Tall Wall. The Ministry of Transportation in Ontario, Canada is replacing guardrails these these taller-jersey barriers on some 400-series highways.
It is important to note that the first barrier pictured on the left is not approved for use on highways by the FHWA but the second barrier you see on the left is. It’s called an MB350 barrier and is actually safer than a concrete barrier in a crash. This barrier meets the TL3 compliance by FHWA when 33 barriers are interconnected in a row, and each barrier must be ballasted to equal 1,500lbs.
It’s also popular to use jersey barriers to provide some protection against possible terrorist attacks. They have even been used in the G-20 summit to prevent protesters from getting in restricted territory. We sell the MB350 here http://www.trans-supply.com/p-552-highway-jersey-barrier.aspx and the 42 x 72 (first one) here: http://www.trans-supply.com/p-378-42-x-72-jersey-style-lcd.aspx
Traffic Barrier
A traffic barrier barricades vehicles so that if a vehicle gets off course, it protects the other vehicles from this vehicle. You may find a barrier between a highway, or just in your local town because of a big road project.
Traffic barriers can be concrete, plastic, filled with water or filled with sand. One type of traffic barrier is called a ‘jersey style’ barrier, presumably because they were commonly used in jersey. They are designed with many specs for tests in mind so many reach all specs necessary.
Traffic barrier
A traffic barrier is used to block traffic in an intermediary between traffic going different ways. Traffic barriers can be plastic or concrete and the plastic ones are usually filled with sand or water. There are many different specs when it comes to traffic barriers, so make sure you find out what is required for the job.
A traffic barrier is not the same as a traffic barricade, or a type III barricade. Traffic barricades are usually used on local roads, instead of highways like the traffic barrier. A traffic barricade is also not as heavy duty.