Barriers

HighwayGuard Barrier
Barriers

Valtir Partnership with Highway Care to Be the Exclusive Supplier of HighwayGuard™ Barrier in North America 

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Valtir (formerly Trinity Highway) Announces Partnership with Highway Care to Be the Exclusive Supplier of HighwayGuard™ Barrier in North America

 

Valtir News | June 10, 2021

Addison, TX – Valtir, LLC – the industry leader and global supplier of commercial highway products, is excited to announce our exclusive agreement with Highway Care Ltd. to manufacture, rent, and sell the MASH-tested HighwayGuard™ Barrier in North America.

The HighwayGuard™ Barrier is a portable, longitudinal redirecting steel barrier made of lightweight, galvanized steel segments tested to MASH 16 TL-3 and TL-4. It is designed to help reduce work zone congestion in high traffic areas and is available in both a standard and a lowest deflection system.

The system was developed by Highway Care, a UK-based global innovator of high-performance infrastructure solutions tested to a range of international standards.

Through its partnership with Highway Care, Valtir broadens its commitment to delivering innovative roadway solutions with the introduction of HighwayGuard™ – the next generation of portable steel barrier – to the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

“This strategic partnership with Highway Care will enable us to offer a MASH-tested, low-deflection barrier system in North America. We believe the market will be enthusiastic about the versatility of the HighwayGuard with its simplified design, smaller footprint, and narrow profile,” said Jim Crowley, VP of New Product Development Sales & Marketing for Valtir.

According to Ben Duncker, Business Development Director for Highway Care, “Trinity’s industry-leading reputation and existing portfolio of products complement HighwayGuard perfectly.  We believe this combination create the foundations for a very successful partnership, and the future evolution of steel barriers in North America.”

 

Barriers

Improvements to the I-595 Express Corridor: Installing an Incident Management System

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Improvements to the I-595 Express Corridor: Installing an Incident Management System

Modern Contractor Magazine | March 2015

I-595 is Broward County’s major east-west thoroughfare located in Broward County, Florida, handling more than 180,000 vehicles per day, and by 2034, that number is projected to swell to beyond 300,000 vehicles per day. In 2009, The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) signed a public-private partnership (P3) agreement with I-595 Express, LLC to serve as the concessionaire to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain (DBFOM) the I-595 Corridor Expressway Improvements Project for a long-term commitment of 35 years. Construction began in February 2010 with a total project length of 13 miles and a design and construction cost of approximately $1.2 billion—the largest P3 project in Florida to-date. Dragados-USA was chosen as the lead design-build contractor and completed the project in March 2014.

 

Key Project Statistics

• Three reversible express lanes created in the I-595 median.

• Over 275 local companies employed on the project.

• Averaged more than 2,000 employees per month working directly on the project.

• Average monthly construction expenditure: $17.1 million.

• Over a million$/day spent on temporary work zone services.

 

Incident Management System

The I-595 Express Corridor Improvements Project implemented an extensive incident management system to operate within the corridor and included CCTV cameras, traffic detectors, and other measures to reduce the effects of crashes and breakdowns on traffic flow. Dedicated road rangers provide necessary assistance to stranded motorists and support incident management. One of the challenges they faced was in providing access points to speed up the response time during an incident. Manufactured by Trinity Highway, the BarrierGate® (Emergency Access Gates-EAG) is an automated gate for barrier openings used for Incident Management Systems, HOV Lanes, Median Crossover, and Reversible Lanes. The I-595 Corridor Expressway project included five BarrierGates strategically placed throughout the corridor to provide the necessary access points for incident responders into the Express Lanes. SICE, Inc., a division of Dragados-USA, operated as the subcontractor for the design and installation of the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). Juan Rodriguez, deputy design manager with SICE, was responsible for managing the unique and complex ITS design and installation of this system.

 

Juan states, “The Trinity BarrierGate is remotely operated through an interface between the Access Control Unit (ACU) housed in a control panel box near each gate location and the Traffic Management Center (TMC), which is operated 24/7/365 and located in FDOT’s District Four office in Fort Lauderdale. The project RFP specified an EAG that could provide the operational interface between the EAG’s and the other components. This had never been done before; the Trinity BarrierGate was the only product that could meet those requirements. We also required a supplier who could provide the technical support for this unique installation and also meet the demanding delivery time required by the project schedule. The advanced software, critical to this interface, was newly developed. We were able to perform multiple preliminary tests with the BarrierGate at Trinity’s manufacturing facility in Pell City, Alabama, prior to the delivery.”

 

Crash Cushions And Barriers

David Feise, I-595 maintenance of traffic (MOT) manager with Dragados-USA, managed all temporary traffic control during the construction phase of the project. This included temporary barriers, striping, and other work zone devices. During the construction phase, the (MOT) plans required 233 temporary QuadGuard II® crash cushions moved to over 811 locations. Typical QuadGuard II devices used were the Standard and Wide models in both NCHRP 350 Test Level 2 & 3 configurations. Especially important to this project, were the 1 bay QuadGuard II models with a system length of 7 feet, the shortest systems available on the market today used at turnarounds under bridges.

 

Upon completion of the project a total of 68 QuadGuard II units were installed in permanent crash cushion applications. David states, “Since this project required the concessionaire to maintain the 13 miles of roadway for 35 years, maintenance cost was very important to us, not just for the construction but for the overall maintenance life of the expressway. The cost-effectiveness, versatility, and reparability of the QuadGuard II product, which can be installed over a broad range of lengths and backup widths, were critical in our decision process.”

 

Alan Lafferty, sales manager with Gulf Industries in Florida states, “We approached this project with the intent of being a one-stop shop. We provided engineering, sales, and service, including installation and repair support. We were also able to meet the multiple requirements of the various speeds and widths of crash cushions and the unique, highly technical interface of a BarrierGate system. Phase construction was a vital requirement for this project. It gave us very little lead time for delivery and installations, which sometimes had to be made between lane shifts, new traffic patterns, or opening of new ramps.”

 

Gulf Material Sales, LLC is Trinity Highway’s distributor for the State of Florida and performed as the lead contact between Dragados and Trinity for the entire duration of the project. Bob’s Barricades, Inc. installed the temporary QuadGuard II units and over 5,000 linear feet of Trinity’s Triton® Water-Filled Barrier during the construction phase. Gulf worked closely with Bob’s and the MOT Manager to ensure orders, deliveries, and field issues were resolved in a timely manner. David adds: “There was a large number of very short and wide gore areas designed into this project, with locations requiring non-typical, somewhat ‘tricky’ installations. We needed a supplier who could not only meet severe delivery time constraints, but also provide a variety of crash cushion models with the expertise to assist with these unique applications. Gulf provided a ‘single-source’ for this project that no one else could match.”

 

The QuadGuard Family of crash cushions, manufactured by Trinity Highway, provides exceptional versatility, and will allow the asset management firm to upgrade to the more reusable, lower maintenance QuadGuard Elite® model should impact frequency increase in specific locations or to the QuadGuard M10® (MASH) units should FHWA standards change in the future.

Source: Modern Contractor magazine

Barriers

Experience Versatility and Flexibility with Vulcan Barrier

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Improving the Work Zone: Experience Versatility and Flexibility with Vulcan Barrier

Modern Contractor magazine | February 2013

With today’s overcrowded highways, a construction zone can quickly become cramped and confusing. Moving trucks and equipment, combined with bulky safety hardware, can be hazardous for drivers and workers. In December 2012, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LDOTD) began a 9-month project of installing variable message signs on I-10 in the Lake Charles area. The project is situated in a high traffic area and they wanted to deploy simple, efficient construction zones for the duration. Looking for a change from the heavy, difficult-to-maneuver concrete traffic barriers (CTB), Tyson Thevis, LDOTD project engineer, and Michael Broussard, project manager for Diamond Electric Co., Inc. of Baton Rouge, worked together to find an alternative solution.

Alternative Solution

During a meeting with Gulf Industries, Inc. of Covington, Louisiana, they discovered the Vulcan Barrier of Trinity Highway Products/Energy Absorption Systems, an NCHRP 350 Test Level 3 and 4 steel longitudinal barrier that may be used in place of the traditional CTB. The product immediately caught their attention: comprised of galvanized steel, the 4-meter sections are lightweight and stackable, which allows for up to 480 feet of Vulcan to be transported on a flatbed trailer. Each section of Vulcan is easily deployed and positioned using retractable casters and interlinked with a vertical steel pivot pin, which allows the system to follow curves of up to 6 degrees per 4-meter segment. The Vulcan is also compatible with a variety of crash cushions and end terminals, which the project required. Citing the ease of setup and deployment, consolidated shipping, and versatility, Michael Broussard comments: “Vulcan was cost effective versus concrete due to the nature of the project. Diamond may need to reconfigure some of the eight work zones, and Vulcan is much more adaptable to such movement and transition.”

With Vulcan Barrier chosen as the preferred barrier for the project, maintenance and redistribution will be easier than usual for the crews who are used to working with CTB: a 4-meter section of Vulcan weighs 1,100 pounds, whereas a 6-meter section of CTB weighs 8,000 pounds.

In The Zone 

There are currently 248 sections of the Vulcan Barrier being leased from Gulf for the project. Gulf coordinated with Trinity’s Pell City, Alabama, plant to ship the Vulcan directly to each of the project’s eight separate work zones. At the sites, crews used forklifts to offload two sections of the Vulcan at a time. Next, the Vulcan sections were rolled into position, linked together with the steel pivot pins, and anchored. The 450-foot runs were then attenuated with an NCHRP 350 Test Level 3 crash cushion, the ACZ-350. Jack Harper Contractors Inc., a subsidiary of Gulf, completely assembled and installed the eight zones over 8 separate nights. Each night, crews installed 450 feet of Vulcan, plus an ACZ-350 crash cushion. Because of the lightweight, stackable design, fewer trucks were used to transport the Vulcan than would be required with CTB, freeing up valuable time and resources. And, crews were easily able to place the product because of its simple deployment and maneuverability.

 

The sleek galvanized lines of the Vulcan Barrier coupled with the narrow profile of the ACZ-350 give the zones a clean and spacious appearance. Measuring 32-inches high and 21.5-inches wide, the inwardly sloping, ribbed sidewalls of the Vulcan are non-gating and designed to redirect a vehicle when impacted according to NCHRP 350 standards. Since December, LDOTD has already received praise from its drivers about the I-10 project.

According to Tyson Thevis, “The Vulcan looks great. LDOTD has had several levels of positive feedback from the public on the appearance. The public image of this project is very good.”

While the Vulcan Barrier is perfect for the short runs of the work zones on the I-10 project, its versatility makes it a popular choice for many other types of applications as well. For areas that require gated, easy access beyond the barrier, Vulcan Barrier sections can be reconfigured as simple median gates with the addition of a Vulcan hinge. The Vulcan Gate can be manually opened in about 1 minute by removing several pins, deploying the casters, and then pushing the Vulcan modules out of the way. Projects requiring the opening and closing of traffic lanes benefit from the Moveable Vulcan Barrier. This barrier is easily repositioned with the Vulcan Transfer Attachment (VTA) when connected to a skid steer or front end loader. Use of the VTA allows the operator to reposition 1 mile of Vulcan Barrier, 1-lane width, in approximately 20 minutes from either side of the barrier. And, for emergency situations that require immediate deployment, numerous DOTs and contractors maintain Vulcan quick response trailers. Quickly deployed, responders can efficiently redirect traffic in instances of rock slides or other emergency road closure situations.

Source: Modern Contractor magazine

Barriers

Moveable Barrier Finds Niche on Highway Projects

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Moveable Barrier Finds Niche on Highway Projects

Modern Contractor magazine | July 2012

 

Protecting the Motorist

TDOT is committed to doing its part in protecting motorists from the rock falls and sink holes occurring on, and adjacent to, the highway. Debris from these slides often ends up in the travel lanes of the roadways posing a serious threat to vehicular traffic. TDOT maintenance crews must erect temporary traffic control to safely channelize traffic around the obstruction until repair crews or contractors can be called in to correct the problem. This process was traditionally done using drums and cones, which were fast and easy to deploy, but they did not provide positive protection and could allow vehicles to inadvertently impact debris fields. While portable concrete barrier has been used for many years as a solid redirective barrier for work zones and affected areas along the highway, its use was very limited for unforeseen emergency applications due to its weight, required equipment, and difficulty in handling. At an average of 450 to 500 pounds per foot, a user could only load about 110 to 120 linear feet of portable concrete barrier on a standard 40-foot tractor trailer, and crews required a boom truck, crane, or track loader to offload and set the barrier. These two factors alone essentially eliminated the use of portable concrete barrier for emergency deployment situations.

Solution to Barrier Deployment 

In 2007, TDOT approached Gulf Industries, a local provider of traffic safety equipment, looking for solutions

to its problem of rapidly deploying barriers that offered positive protection. Seeing that concrete barriers would not solve their problem, Andre Favret of Gulf Industries suggested using the Vulcan Steel Barrier from Energy Absorption Systems/Trinity Highway Products. After a short demonstration on a section of I-40, TDOT made its first purchase of 100 13.5-foot sections for maintenance and traffic control activities.

TDOT observed that the footprint of the Vulcan Barrier in the yard was essentially the same whether stored on the ground or on a trailer. They decided that using dedicated trailers for the Vulcan Barrier would reduce cost and deployment times, enabling the maintenance department to respond much quicker to highway emergencies. While TDOT’s standard lowboy trailers worked well for the Vulcan Barrier, they were not optimized for storage and operation, so TDOT decided to acquire custom trailers for storing and transporting a dedicated amount of Vulcan Barrier. The 28-foot-long, double-axle trailers hold 16 sections, or 215 linear feet, of Vulcan Steel Barrier. This is double the amount of concrete barrier that could be transported on a 40-foot tractor trailer. The product has proved so durable that TDOT has not had to purchase any parts for repair in the last 5 years. TDOT is actively using the Vulcan Steel Barrier in all four of its districts.

Creating Work Zones

TDOT is not the only user of the Vulcan Steel Barrier in Tennessee. Several highway contractors use the product extensively for short and longer term work zones. Superior Traffic Control-Memphis (STC) of Memphis, Tennessee, owns several thousand feet of the product. Rebecca Wood, president of STC, states, “We use the Vulcan Barrier as an integral part of our traffic control operations. The barrier is lightweight and highly portable, and allows our crews to quickly set up protected work zones for our customers. We use the Vulcan for overnight and weekend work zones where we are only allowed to close a lane of traffic for a short period of time. Our crews are able to position the barrier by hand at the beginning of an evening and then quickly move the barrier to the shoulder in the morning so that the lane is open to rush hour traffic.”

Barrier Functionality

With the use of a the Vulcan Transfer Attachment (VTA) connected to a small skid steer or front end loader, the barrier can be moved laterally 12 feet at a rate of 5 mph, allowing the opening or closing of a ½-mile-long work zone in about 20 minutes. This configuration of the Vulcan Barrier makes the product ideal for work zones in highly congested areas where longitudinal barrier must be moved multiple times per day or weekend to accommodate peak and off-peak traffic volumes. When the work zone is inactive, the Vulcan Barrier is stored out of the way of traffic on the shoulder. When an active work zone is required, the contractor uses the VTA to quickly move the barrier out into the roadway to close the lane to traffic and secure the work zone.

Source: Modern Contractor magazine