| Abstract: | Concrete rigid barriers are used in medians to separate traffic and on the roadside to shield hazards from motorists and motorists from hazards. These barriers need to demonstrate crashworthiness through full-scale testing per the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH). Attachments may be deployed on top of concrete barriers for various reasons, including deterring pedestrians from crossing highways. Such hardware attachments, however, have not been investigated to MASH standards. It is believed that impacting vehicles will likely interact with hardware attached to concrete barriers. In this study, researchers conducted a literature review and surveys of Texas Department of Transportation districts and other transportation agencies to help identify existing technologies that can be mounted to concrete barriers to deter pedestrians from crossing roadways; evaluated their impact performance through engineering analysis and finite element simulations; and verified MASH Test Level 3 and Test Level 4 impact performance of the top-rated attachment systems through full-scale crash testing. Based on the results, this report provides valuable information for selection and implementation of attachments on top of barriers to deter pedestrians from crossing highways. |
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