The future of highway barriers?

[Ulrich]

Eighty-five miles of a new type of freeway barrier are being installed on I-10 between Houston and San Antonio — and it's made of high-strength steel cables rather than concrete. The Gibraltar Barrier System, made by a company in Burnet, got Federal Highway Administration approval last year as a median and roadside barrier, and officials say it will injure fewer people and cause less damage to vehicles in freeway crashes. Whereas old-style concrete barriers crunch and bounce cars, the Gibraltar cables give when they're hit, absorbing more of the impact. That didn't stop one motorist from worrying:

"It's like putting a guitar string in the middle of the highway. It'll cut a truck wide open. It'll cut a car wide open. You think it'll cut a car wide open? Yeah it'll get somebody killed," said driver Bobby Ratliff.

TxDOT said it's installing the cables, which cost about $100,000 a mile, in areas with high traffic and high accident rates. Though the installation is still in progress, the state reports 20 vehicles have already run into the new barriers.

[Ulrich]

$100K per mile? I'm in the wrong business...

[Presidente]

i wouldnt be too confident crashing into one of those things

[Presidente]

but then agian...a concrete barrier is much scarier

[WestSideBilly]

I'd much rather run into cables than concrete.

[WestSideBilly]

$100K per mile? I'm in the wrong business...

I'd be willing to bet that concrete barriers are almost as much.

[Goku]

Ok, we have a small section of that style barrier here in Colorado, and when I'm in my car I feel safe if i hit it, BUT I ride motorcylces way more often than I drive my car, and I'm scared Shitless when I pass by them, think if I were to crash here, those things would cut me in two. So I would much more perfer to slam into concrete on my bike, than slide under, or through those cables and into on-coming traffic. Way I see it is broken bones can be fixed, but body parts cant be reattached if they were cut off by a half inch of steal cable
Just my two cents

[Chris S]

They just installed them along MOPAC in Austin, and they're ugly as hell. IMO, they solved a problem that didn't exist. I guess they had to figure out something new to waste our tax dollars on.

[Goku]

yep, stupid nannyist crowd....."if it only saves one life" yea but what about the cost of others.....

[The Mangonel]

We're having them installed all over Washington. They are already having complaints of loose cables. It seems that they need repair immediately after an accident, not several weeks later.

[GChambers]

Ok, we have a small section of that style barrier here in Colorado, and when I'm in my car I feel safe if i hit it, BUT I ride motorcylces way more often than I drive my car, and I'm scared Shitless when I pass by them, think if I were to crash here, those things would cut me in two. So I would much more perfer to slam into concrete on my bike, than slide under, or through those cables and into on-coming traffic. Way I see it is broken bones can be fixed, but body parts cant be reattached if they were cut off by a half inch of steal cable
Just my two cents

If the cables have the proper tension and maybe just a bit of slack, they could actually give enough to avoid slicing off a limb or your head. I suppose that if you were going fast enough, no matter how well the system is engineered, it could slice you in two. But, at those speeds, I am certain you wouldn't want to hit a concrete barrier either.

[S2Kouichi]

Further evidence of discrimination against motorcyclists. Perhaps the AMA will bring a suit against this?

[desmo4]

And no one mentioned what happens when you hit the posts that hold the cables. I think there are too many failure scenarios to put in print.

Jonathan

[WestSideBilly]

Ok, we have a small section of that style barrier here in Colorado, and when I'm in my car I feel safe if i hit it, BUT I ride motorcylces way more often than I drive my car, and I'm scared Shitless when I pass by them, think if I were to crash here, those things would cut me in two. So I would much more perfer to slam into concrete on my bike, than slide under, or through those cables and into on-coming traffic. Way I see it is broken bones can be fixed, but body parts cant be reattached if they were cut off by a half inch of steal cable
Just my two cents

A 1" cable won't cut through you. It'll probably snap a bone that contacts it but it won't sever the limb.

[OVERSTEER]

Also a bunch of posts standing up to hold the cables, catch a leg or torso on one of those and see how safe they are.
Maybe they are equiped with airbags at 100k per mile.

[Chris S]

A 1" cable won't cut through you. It'll probably snap a bone that contacts it but it won't sever the limb.

Are you kidding? It sure isn't going to snap. I doubt motorists have anything to worry about, but it could easily slice the hell out of a motorcyclist. Even worse, I noticed today that they installed them so close to the left shoulder that you can't even pull far enough off the road to safely change a flat! Smells like some contractor or "safety system" manufacturer has some effective (i.e. deep-pocketed) lobbyists, b/c I can't see how these make any sense.

[asnbanker]

I rather run into that then a concrete barrier. If you look closely they look to be about 10 inches apart which if I remember my science correctly if you fly into that wire, the force placed on one wire would cut you in half, but because there are 3 wires that are close enough together, the displacement of the impact over 3 points on a person's body or vehicle would not slice them in half. Its the same concept as sleeping on a bed of sharp nails, if spaced properly, the displacement of pressure will mean that it will not hurt you. You will have some nasty cuts that will need stiches, bruises, and probably break a few bones. Any accident really on a bike spells hospital most of the time anyways, but given the choice of concrete barrier or this new system, I would take my chances on the new system because at least this new system gives and absorbs some of the impact. So if you hit this barrier going 70 mph, the wires would absorb the impact and give and reduce that impact to something like 30-40 mph. Concrete doesn't give, so your impact is much more severe 70 mph means 70 mph. I draw this conclusion from veiwing the video. If you look, the truck has realatively little damage and slows very quickly, and the barrier gave about 4-5 feet.

[Ulrich]

If you look closely they look to be about 10 inches apart which if I remember my science correctly if you fly into that wire, the force placed on one wire would cut you in half, but because there are 3 wires that are close enough together, the displacement of the impact over 3 points on a person's body or vehicle would not slice them in half.

No, you are right. It would actually be quarters, not halves.

[WestSideBilly]

Are you kidding? It sure isn't going to snap. I doubt motorists have anything to worry about, but it could easily slice the hell out of a motorcyclist. Even worse, I noticed today that they installed them so close to the left shoulder that you can't even pull far enough off the road to safely change a flat! Smells like some contractor or "safety system" manufacturer has some effective (i.e. deep-pocketed) lobbyists, b/c I can't see how these make any sense.

Don't forget that cars/trucks make up roughly 99.9% of traffic... so the 0.1% might get hurt more but the rest all get hurt less. Classic utilitarianism, which is how most governments try to operate.

That said, I'm sure there was lobbying involved. And I'd still take my chances with a flexible cable over a concrete wall...

[Kaiser442]

I just saw these for the first time on I-35W going down to Waco last weekend (went Geocaching with the Xterra club... had pfun) - they're ugly as sin.

I would prefer no barrier. There was no need for one in the section of 35 where I saw it - the median is a good 30+ yards wide. How often is a crash bad enough that someone goes ALL the way across? Often enough to justify blowing millions of dollars of tax money on this?