MASH Test 3-11 on the T131RC Bridge Rail

Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) currently uses the TxDOT Type T101RC Bridge Rail, a steel post and beam bridge rail anchored to the top of concrete curbs. The T101RC Bridge Rail is 27 inches in height and can be anchored to the top of concrete curbs of varying heights. The heights of the posts and the number of bridge rail elements vary depending on the height of the concrete curb. The posts are anchored to the curb using four adhesive anchors. Based on crash testing of similar rail designs of the same height, the researchers believed that the TxDOT Type T101RC Bridge Rail would not meet the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level 3 (TL-3) criteria. The purpose of this portion of the project was to design and crash test a modified design of the TxDOT T101RC Bridge Rail that would meet the strength and safety performance criteria for TL-3 of MASH. A new bridge rail was developed and tested for this project. The TxDOT T131RC Bridge Rail met all the strength and safety performance criteria of MASH. This bridge rail is recommended for implementation on new or retrofit railing applications.