Highway barrier method

#The present invention relates to an energy absorbing roadway barrier for dissipating kinetic energy upon impact by a moving vehicle and a method of making the energy absorbing roadway barrier.

#Media barriers are often disposed between opposing lanes of traffic on a divided highway to prevent head-on collisions. A common form of such media barrier are formed of precast or poured concrete structures somewhat bell-shaped in cross section and having a wide bottom to resist tipping from impact with an automobile or other vehicle and a flared lower section to engage the tire of a vehicle veering from the road into the barrier and a more or less vertical upper section rising to a flattened barrier top. The flared lower section allows the vertical upper section to be set back far enough to provide clearance for the body of the vehicle. Thus, if a vehicle veers into the barrier at a small angle, the barrier acts to turn the car back onto the roadway to prevent a possible head-on collision with vehicles in the lanes of opposing traffic.

#Energy absorbing barriers have also been used for vehicular traffic applications including those of a semi-permanent nature which are heavy and difficult to install and can be expensive to maintain. Barriers of this type include fixed guardrails, concrete median barriers, and special structures located in a protected array around highway signs, bridge abutments, and the like. The lighter more portable barriers are less likely to absorb as much impact energy but they are more easily installed for defining temporary traffic lanes, closing off highway construction sites, and establishing pedestrian walkways. Typical highway barriers comprise elongated blocks of concrete arranged end-to-end to intercept vehicles leaving a defined traffic lane which have special shapes to direct the tire hitting the barrier and consequently the vehicle away from crossing the barrier regardless of the shape of the construction. Most barriers are made non-resilient, massive, and heavy in order to possibly stop vehicles. This then becomes more dangerous to the vehicle and to the occupants so that some barriers have been designed to progressively absorb kinetic energy and thereby gradually decelerate a vehicle. Energy absorbing barriers have been suggested having internal chambers filled with gas, liquids, or other fluent materials and sometimes containers, such as barrels filled with sand, while others have depended upon springs or internal shock absorbers. Most of these prior energy absorbing barriers are not readily adapted for interconnection to define a vehicle lane and are characterized by sidewalls undesirably shaped for redirecting the direction of the vehicle tire running onto the barrier or to allow the vehicle tire to climb a portion of the barrier and be re-directed from the barrier.

#Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a road barrier section in accordance with the present invention anchored to a surface;

#FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

#Referring to the drawings and especially to FIGS. 1 and 2, anti-crash type road barrier 10 is an energy absorbing roadway barrier for dissipating kinetic energy upon impact by a moving vehicle tire and includes a central core 11 of high density concrete having a plurality of prestressed reinforcing steel rebar members 12 passing therethrough. The roadway barrier 10 is mounted to a roadway 13 with barrier anchors 14 bolted with anchor members 15 to the roadway 13. The roadway anchor portion 14 can be seen connected with steel extensions 16 to a generally U-shaped support channel member 17 which in turn is attached to the core member 11 with fasteners or bolts 18. In addition, the support and anchor members have a cross-brace member portion 20 and a cover portion 21 formed over the anchoring base 14. The entire road barrier 10 core 11 has a lightweight concrete material 22 formed thereover and designed to be an energy absorbing and sound absorbing lightweight concrete for dissipating kinetic energy upon impact with a moving vehicle or the like. The roadway barrier 10 is shaped to have a flat bottom portion with a vertical rise portion 23 and a pair of arcuate portions 24 on either side thereof capped with a narrow flat ridge 25 having a plurality of openings 19 therein for placing inserts for lifting the barrier. A raised portion 29 forms a passageway for water to pass beneath the barrier. The end of each barrier member 10 has a keyway 26 extending vertically while a half-circle access reveal 27 matches the half-circle on adjacent or abutting barrier member to provide an access from the side at the adjoining joint between two members while the interlock keyway 26 can provide access from the top. A central rebar member 28 from the high density concrete core 11 can protrude from the end for attaching to the next abutting barrier member 10. The central rebar member 28 does not have to be prestressed.

#As more clearly seen in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the barrier members can be attached with a pair of clamping members 30 and 31 clamped with a plurality of bolts and nuts 32 through the accesses 27 or 26 bolting the clamping members onto the extending rebar members 28 of each end to anchor abutting ends of the roadway barriers 10 together.

#As more clearly seen also in FIGS. 3 and 4, the U-shaped supports 17 are held by a pair of bolts 18 passing therethrough and through the high density concrete core 12 while the supporting arm 16 can be seen as a pair of crossed arms which are interconnected and connected to the cover portion 21 of the anchors 14. In this manner, the central core of high density reinforced concrete is directly attached to the steel channel 17 and directly connected through the steel arms 16 to the anchor base portion 14 which are bolted or anchored to the roadway surface 13. The covers 21 are also used in the forming of the molded barrier to protect the openings in the base 14 for the bolts 15. The roadway barrier is lightweight because of the lightweight concrete construction which can be aligned with their ends abutting and rapidly clamped together and then anchored to the roadway 13 to provide a continuous barrier of any length desired.