Safety Investigation and Guidance for Work-Zone Devices in Freight Transportation Systems Subjected to Passenger Car and Truck Impacts with New Crash Standards

Crashworthy, work-zone, portable sign support systems accepted under NCHRP Report No. 350 were analyzed to predict their safety performance according to the TL-3 MASH evaluation criteria. An analysis was conducted to determine which hardware parameters of sign support systems would likely contribute to the safety performance with MASH. The accuracy of the method was evaluated through full-scale crash testing. Four full-scale crash tests were conducted with a pickup truck. Two tall-mounted, sign support systems with aluminum sign panels failed the MASH criteria due to windshield penetration. One low-mounted system with a vinyl, roll-up sign panel failed the MASH criteria due to windshield and floorboard penetration. Another low-mounted system with an aluminum sign panel successfully met the MASH criteria. Four full-scale crash tests were conducted with a small passenger car. The low-mounted tripod system with an aluminum sign panel failed the MASH criteria due to windshield penetration. One low-mounted system with aluminum sign panel failed the MASH criteria due to excessive windshield deformation, and another similar system passed the MASH criteria. The low-mounted system with a vinyl, roll-up sign panel successfully met the MASH criteria. Hardware parameters of work-zone sign support systems that were determined to be important for failure with MASH include sign panel material, the height to the top of the mast, the presence of flags, sign-locking mechanism, base layout and system orientation. Flowcharts were provided to assist manufacturers when designing new sign support systems.

• Record URL:
  http://matc.unl.edu/research/research_projects.php?id=19
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  Midwest Roadside Safety Facility
  2200 Vine Street, Whittier Building
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0853

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Center for Transportation Research and Education
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Department of Transportation

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Schmidt, Jennifer D
  • Faller, Ronald K
  • Lechtenberg, Karla A
  • Sicking, Dean L
  • Halloway, James C
• Publication Date: 2010-3-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 394p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Compliance; Crash tests; Crashworthiness; Human factors in crashes; Sign supports; Standards; Traffic control devices; Work zone safety; Work zone traffic control
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01208071
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRP-03-225-10, ERP-03-225-10
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Oct 21 2010 8:01AM