ESTING OF STATE ROADSIDE SAFETY SYSTEMS. VOLUME VIII: APPENDIX G - CRASH TESTING AND EVALUATION OF THE SINGLE SLOPE BRIDGE RAIL

The purpose of this study is to crash test and evaluate new or modified roadside safety hardware and, where necessary, redesign the devices to improve their impact performance. The three major areas addressed in this study are the impact performance of bridge railings, transitions from guardrails to bridge railings, and end treatments for guardrails and median barriers. This report presents the results of three crash tests conducted on a single slope bridge railing design in accordance with guidelines set forth in the 1989 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specification on Bridge Railings for performance level 2 (PL-2) and National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350 for test level 4 (TL-4). The first crash test involved a 2000-kg ( 4405-lb) pickup truck impacting the bridge rail at a nominal impact speed and angle of 100 km/h (62.2 mi/h) and 25 degrees. The bridge rail was judged to have performed satisfactorily in this test. The second crash test involved an 8172-kg (18,000-lb) single-unit truck impacting the bridge rail head-on at a nominal impact speed and angle of 80.5 km/h (50 mi/h) and zero (15) degrees. The third test was a repeat of the second test because the impact angle in the second test was only 10 degrees instead of the required 15 degrees. The bridge rail was judged to have performed satisfactorily in both single-unit truck redirection tests. This volume is the eighth in a series of 14 volumes for the final report.