Development of an Improved Roadside Barrier System--Phase I

The objective of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 22-16, "Development of an Improved Roadside Barrier System," was to develop a new, nonproprietary roadside barrier system capable of meeting NCHRP Report 350 crash test requirements and more cost-effective than the most commonly used strong-post W-beam (SPWB) barrier. This digest summarizes Phase I findings. Phase I research provides a summary of the state of the art on the use of various guardrail systems, defines strengths and weaknesses of the current systems, and provides recommendations for changes to the SPWB barrier. The latest thinking of design and maintenance professionals in the state departments of transportation was obtained through a detailed survey conducted during the early part of 2000. The survey obtained information on the strengths and weaknesses of SPWB barriers and of other currently used barrier systems. The engineers were asked where they see a need for improvement and how they ranked the importance of the different possible functional enhancements. Forty-four states responded to the survey.