įirst tested in 1968 by the then Department of Highways in Ontario, Canada, the Ontario Tall Wall is a variant of the Jersey barrier. The UK equivalent is the concrete step barrier. The F-shape is generally similar to the Jersey barrier in appearance, but is taller, with somewhat different angles. Modern variations include the constant-slope barrier and the F-shape barrier. Head-on vehicle collisions are minimized by gradually lifting the vehicle and pivoting it away from oncoming vehicles and back into traffic heading in its original direction. In common shallow-angle hits, sheet-metal damage is minimized by allowing the vehicle tires to ride up on the lower sloped face. The design of the Jersey barrier was specifically intended to minimize damage in incidental accidents and reduce the likelihood of a car crossing into oncoming lanes in the event of a collision. When the Bergen Mall was first opened in Paramus, these rumble strip dividers were extensively used on the roadway (Forest Avenue) that separated the grocery stores from the mall proper. These lower dividers are visible in old photographs. Even Route 46 had the rumble strip in many places before gradually, the higher barrier was installed. Some dividers on county or local roads may have been lower than that since they replaced a raised concrete rumble strip that would dissuade, but not prevent, traffic crossing from one lane to another. Many of the first installations (Route 46 in Bergen County and Passaic County, for instance) were much shorter than the heights discussed here, typically about two feet (61 cm) tall. Most of the original barriers constructed in New Jersey in the 1950s and early 1960s were not "modular" they were poured in place the way curbs are. Their widespread use in road construction has led to wide application as a generic, portable barrier during construction projects and temporary rerouting of traffic into stopgap carpool and rush-hour reversing highway lanes. Many are constructed with the embedded steel reinforcement protruding from each end, allowing them to be incorporated into permanent emplacements when linked to one another by sections of fresh concrete poured on-site. A typical Jersey barrier stands 32 inches (81 cm) tall and is made of steel-reinforced poured concrete or plastic. The Jersey barrier, also called New Jersey wall, was developed in the 1950s (introduced in current form in 1959), at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, United States, under the direction of the New Jersey State Highway Department to divide multiple lanes on a highway. This first generation of concrete barriers was developed to (a) minimize the number of out-of-control trucks penetrating the barrier, and (b) eliminate the need for costly and dangerous median barrier maintenance in high-accident locations with narrow medians – concerns that are as valid today as they were 80 years ago. Route 99 on the descent from the Tehachapi Mountains in the Central Valley south of Bakersfield, California. Soldiers taking cover from enemy fire behind Jersey barriers in Baghdad, Iraq, 2007Īlthough it is not clear exactly when or where the first concrete median barriers were used, concrete median barriers were used in the mid-1940s on U.S. More modular variants, including plastic water-filled barriers, have been created. Taller variants, such as the Ontario Tall Wall, proved more effective at stopping vehicles and had the added advantage of blocking most oncoming headlights. Over time, different variants were created. The barriers are also known as a K-rail, a term stipulated in the California Department of Transportation specification for temporary concrete traffic barriers which first started using concrete median barriers in the mid-1940s. state of New Jersey which first started using the barriers as separators between lanes of a highway in the 1950s. Jersey barriers are also used to reroute traffic and protect pedestrians and workers during highway construction. It is designed to minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing vehicle crossovers resulting in a likely head-on collision. 42-inch (110 cm)-high variation of the Jersey barrier known as an Ontario Tall Wall, used to deflect vehicles from crossing into the opposing lanes of trafficĪ Jersey barrier, Jersey wall, or Jersey bump is a modular concrete or plastic barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic.
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