Concrete barriers are designed to slow, stop or redirect a vehicle from causing a severe highway crash. These barriers are crashworthy and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The crash performance of barriers also depends on the type of the vehicle, its speed and other variables. Understanding these variables enables you to select the most appropriate kind of barriers while addressing your specific safety concerns.
Concrete safety barriers give answers to both the issues of road safety and sustainability. Below are some of the benefits of highway concrete safety barriers in the three domains of sustainable construction such as environment, economy and society.
Environment:
- The material usage and wastage is minimized
- The service is non-polluting.
- Concrete barriers are 100% recyclable
- They are virtually maintenance-free over 50 year design life
- Reduce traffic congestion and associated emissions
Society:
- Increases the safety for road users and workers
- No break-through of collision vehicle
- Low maintenance increases the road availability and reduces traffic congestion
- Safe solution for motorcyclists
Economic:
- Very extensive design life
- Requires only minimum space
- Relatively maintenance-free
- Remains functional even after severe collision
- High daily production of 400 to 800 m possible
- Temporary systems are available for roadway construction
The types of concrete barriers include Jersey barriers, F-shape barriers, vertical barriers and truck barriers. Jersey barriers are the original concrete barrier which is the most widely used type of concrete barriers. F-shape barriers are engineered to prevent or lessen the likelihood of a small car rolling over after hitting the barrier. Truck barriers are classically higher than other concrete barriers and provide a glare shade.
Concrete barriers are designed to absorb the energy of crash impacts which lessen the harm caused by a crash and are considered as the safety barriers.
