Evaluation of Work Zone Barricades

摘要

Safety of work zones is a major area of concern since it is not always possibleto maintain a level of safety comparable to that of a normal highway not under construction. Proper traffic control is critical to the safety of work zones. However, traffic control devices themselves may pose a safety hazard when impacted by errant vehicles. The objective of the study was to design, evaluate, and test additional work zone sign supports and barricades that would perform satisfactorily when impacted by errant vehicles. The scope of the study included: (1) evaluation and testing of a barricade design for direct burial of supports; (2) designing and testing a barricade design using square tubing uprights welded to skids; (3) designing and testing a barricade design using additional vertical members to stablize and provide a more rigid design when lightweight plastics are used for the horizontal rails; (4) determination of tolerances for mounting height of temporary and portable sign supports; (5) evaluation and testing of new designs for barricades and sign supports that are available on the open market; and (6) evaluation and testing of warning light attachments to barricades and sign supports.