# Highway and Expresway: Soft Barriers Vs Hard Barriers



## AsHalt (Nov 8, 2013)

Just to start the ball rolling, a question of mine:
Which type of the barriers is most commonly found in your country? and also Which you prefer?

_In case needing dictionary:

*Hard Barriers* : Anything that's function like a Jersey Barrier /Made of concrete and rebars.
*Soft Barriers* :Anything that's malleable like Guard Rails (aka the shiny metal barrier)  and Cable Barriers_

*General information:*http://www.barrierdesigns.com.au/


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

In the Netherlands guard-rails are definitively more prevalent. Newer high-performance guard-rails have as much containment capacity as hard concrete barriers and they are deformable.


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

I always though that concrete barriers were stronger and thus safer, especially in case of impact with a truck, but maybe also modern steel ones are as safe.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Concrete barriers, especially if you have two filled with sand, make sure vehicles cannot cross the median. However, they are also not forgiving, you have a much better change of getting away unharmed if you drive into a metal crash barrier than if you drive into a solid wall.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

If you make metal barriers and you want to avoid vehicles landing on the other side, do what the Italians do. No-nonsense barriers. Obviously the planners know what their drivers are like...


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

There's also the 100-feet-of-grass option: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_404#mediaviewer/File:Highway_404_at_Stouffville.png


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Hmmmm. I can drive through there. So can lorry drivers who are dozing off.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

It would slow you down, though....


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

You'll come to a full stop on the other side. This is true. So will oncoming vehicles.


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## AsHalt (Nov 8, 2013)

In Singapore, most are guard rails other than the the newest expressway, MCE, it's a continuous Jersey barrier.
In Malaysia ,most of the older expressway are using guardrails ,only when there's a viaduct crossing it does it use a solid Jersey barrier. The newer expressways are mostly consist of jersey barriers in the median with guardrails in isolated areas (hardly full length of the highway)


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## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

Road_UK said:


> You'll come to a full stop on the other side. This is true. So will oncoming vehicles.


Realistically no, there is a big depression, you tend to crash into the soft dirt

If the median is too narrow though crossover is possible, there were a couple of high-profile accidents in Ontario on Hwy 401, the early built sections (1950's) where traffic crossed narrow grass strip median and had a big crash. But once you have 30 metres of median it is okay.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

If you got a heavy goods vehicle travelling at 60 MPH on cruise-control, and the driver is flagging and eventually falling asleep, don't you think it will create a dangerous situation to oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway as well?


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## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

Honestly I can't remember any real issue like that occurring and this type median is very common in the USA and Canada. Typical crashes with HGV's are jacknifing, even flipping over, but not crossing the median (mind you, the slope is great enough to flip the typical HGV over, that might be the real issue)

There's a big question, in that having a hard barrier necessarily is dangerous to errant vehicles, while something like a depressed median is very safe to errant vehicles, but has a theroretical (becoming significant to extreme as the width narrows) crossover possibility. But if you have a very wide one, it's very safe.


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## xrtn2 (Jan 12, 2011)




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## Innsertnamehere (Jun 8, 2010)

Penn's Woods said:


> There's also the 100-feet-of-grass option: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_404#mediaviewer/File:Highway_404_at_Stouffville.png


That isn't the standard rural highway width, that area is skinnier than normal so that it can be eventually expanded to a 10 lane cross section.

A modern rural separation is this, notice the large depression which is a primary function in stopping vehicles.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.4296...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sjWmxx0yE-xYgVluMZv2puQ!2e0

The "Ontario Tall Wall" is a concrete median invented by the MTO that has been exported across the world. its basically a taller version of the standard barrier more commonly seen. Here you can see the Tall Wall on the left and the regular type barrier on the right.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.3882...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sV92TQ4Hz9GQi1oc9wtvTAg!2e0

The most substandard portion of Ontario highways is this kind of barrier, which is honestly rather scary. This used to be the standard median, but only 2 sections remain and both of which will be replaced in the next few years:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.10422,-79.631875,3a,75y,197.42h,84.78t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s-o5SeLSIBgosiXqcwEK4zQ!2e0


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

30+ meters wide grassy medians are suitable only where there is a lot of empty land available, like in North America but not in most of Europe, where sprawl is common in the countryside.
The only divided highway with wide grassy median I've seen in Europe (from internet, never been there), is the expressway around Reykyavik.

In Italy A22 between Modena and Verona has a grassy median (far narrower than 30m, though), to accomodate a future 3x2 widening. Of course, it has steel crashbarriers in between.
https://www.google.it/maps/place/46...2!3m1!1s0x4781d40f82e52ed9:0xc1c7fd07590e7b85


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

^^

A6 in the Netherlands between Almere and Lelystad. Speedlimit 130.


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## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

italystf said:


> 30+ meters wide grassy medians are suitable only where there is a lot of empty land available, like in North America but not in most of Europe, where sprawl is common in the countryside.
> The only divided highway with wide grassy median I've seen in Europe (from internet, never been there), is the expressway around Reykyavik.


A few samples about the standards in place in Finland:









4/E75 Järvenpää









3/E12 Hyvinkää









7/E18 Porvoo

The minimum width of the median is 15 meters if the road is designed for 120 kph speed.

Another type, a narrow motorway, design speed 100 kph:









8/E18 Liminka


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## Autobahn-mann (Mar 1, 2013)

In Italy, is more prevalent the "double waved" guard-rail, widespread on almost all italian motorway net
In some case were used the concrete new jersey.

Recently the public opinion was worried by new jersey because, specially on the Southern part of the contry, because some new jersey wasn't fixed on the ground!!! (too much work for the Southern, or save some money?)

From Wikipedia: Motorway A16...


> On the night of 28 July 2013, a serious traffic accident occurred on the A16 near Avellino when a coach carrying pilgrims fell off a flyover into a ravine. At least 39 people, including the driver, were killed and many others injured.


However, the italian Highway Code prescribes a reservation of 3,20 meters (3.2m = 10ft 5in), but didn't specify how divide the opponent traffic.

There was a public debate in the late of 60s about this question, there was to choose between a large reservation (12 meters [39ft 4in], with only advisory barriers) versus a narrow reservation (from 1 [3ft 3in] to max 3 or 4 meters [9ft 10in or 13ft 1in]) that must have barriers.
In Italy, you can guess who have won... 

I'd prefer the solution saw on A22 between Modena and Verona (as seen in a recent post above) but, Italy doens't have a lot of plain to have that characteristics for the dual carriageways


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Autobahn-mann said:


> Italy doens't have a lot of plain to have that characteristics for the dual carriageways


Motorways in mountanious areas are safer from this point of view because parallel tunnels and viaducts (of opposite directions) are usually detached each other and it's impossible to run into the opposite carriaggeway.

One example of very dangerous median:
https://www.google.it/maps/place/Si...2!3m1!1s0x1313ce8da28bdf79:0xd1736683b2c58b87
Highway Augusta - Siracusa, Sicily
Intended to be part of the A18 but currently numbered SS114 as it has too low standards for a motorway, although it's fully integrated with the rest of the motorway network.


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Road_UK said:


> ^^
> 
> A6 in the Netherlands between Almere and Lelystad. Speedlimit 130.


Strange for a densely populated country like the NL. However this place was open ocean 100 years ago.


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## Autobahn-mann (Mar 1, 2013)

italystf said:


> Motorways in mountanious areas are safer from this point of view because parallel tunnels and viaducts (of opposite directions) are usually detached each other and it's impossible to run into the opposite carriaggeway.
> QUOTE]
> 
> It's true, but I meant out of tunnels and bridges...  It's ok however


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## mubd (Oct 14, 2009)

Wire rope barriers are the norm in Australia (at least in New South Wales) for new and upgraded roads where there is space (even roads with hugely wide medians get the treatment). Guard rails remain for older roads and roads where space is slightly constrained. Jersey barriers tend to only be used where space is extremely limited, such as the vast underground road network in Sydney.


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## Tom 958 (Apr 24, 2007)

After watching this video, I'm amazed that the Modified Thrie Beam system isn't a great deal more common than it is.


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## AsHalt (Nov 8, 2013)

http://www.barrierdesigns.com.au/
Infomation bout the different barriers used


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## myosh_tino (Apr 8, 2010)

California tends to use a mix of concrete center barriers, metal beam guardrails and "nothing" on it's freeways. In urban areas, concrete barriers are the most common while metal beam guardrails can be found on some older stretches of freeway or freeways with a rather wide median. In rural areas, the metal beam guardrail is the most common while on freeways with a wide median won't have a barrier at all (which is what I meant by "nothing").

Prior to 1997, a center median barrier was *not* required if the freeway had a median that was at least 45 feet wide (that's approx 14m for you metric folks) *unless* the road had a history of head-on collisions.

The standard was changed in 1997 when, in a one year period, 6 people were killed on Highway 85. The 6-lane freeway opened in 1994 but no median barrier was installed because it had a 46-50 foot median. The end results was the standard was changed so a median barrier is required on all high-volume roads with medians less than 75 feet.

There's a chance the standard might be changed again after a horrific accident earlier this year when a FedEx semi lost control, went through the center median (I don't think there was a barrier) and crashed head-on into a bus carrying high school seniors from Los Angeles on I-5 north of Sacramento. The fiery crash killed 10 people. Because that stretch of I-5 is in a rural area, the 1997 standards did not apply.


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## blue_man100 (Apr 17, 2004)

*In Mexico, we have several type of barriers, depending on the geography, volume of traffic and rural vs suburban vs urban...* *Here some examples of mexican highways:*

*hard barrier in mountains:*









*soft barrier:*




*median in rural areas...this one I think is risky: *





*mixed barriers: soft and hard: *




*urban freeways: *
Mexico city





*NATURAL barriers:*

*"very soft barrier"* 





*tree barrier! I think these are risky for drivers:*






^^
I hope this post was interesting for you guys


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## xrtn2 (Jan 12, 2011)

This is in Brazil :nuts::nuts:


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## blue_man100 (Apr 17, 2004)

^^
cool


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## ANDi_ (Sep 17, 2013)

Very one sided video...


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## metasmurf (Nov 16, 2007)

Why not some forest between the driveways? Like here on E4 south of Gävle, Sweden


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## sirfreelancealot (Jul 26, 2010)

Many metal barriers are being replaced on the UK's motorway network with concrete barriers but I cannot understand why it has to take so long to complete certain sections.

On the M1 between Junctions 16 and 18 the road has been down to 3 narrow lanes to do this change since last year and they are still working on it!!! 

When that is done, new works will start to convert it into the oxymoron that is a Smart Motorway. It's a posh way of saying widening on the cheap. Essentially it is a scheme to allow hard shoulder running with varaible speed limits. Years ago the proposal was for full blown widening but this was cancelled in favour of Smart Motorways. The probelm is it's not that cheaper and seems to take just as long to complete which is mental!


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## blue_man100 (Apr 17, 2004)

metasmurf said:


> Why not some forest between the driveways? Like here on E4 south of Gävle, Sweden


^^
in Mexico and Unites States there are several highways with forest between the driveways...
I posted one picture in this same page


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## weava (Sep 8, 2007)

They started installing the steel cable dividers in the US on most interstates about a decade ago. The concrete wall dividers are usually only seen in urban areas.

typical interstate/freeway in a low density area









typical interstate in an urban area.


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