New Jersey type safety barriers – Experiences in Belgium

This paper reports the experience gained by the Highways Department in Belgium in the construction of so-called New Jersey safety barriers during the past few years. First the reasons why the Ministry of Public Works gave up the more traditional protection systems such as steel or aluminium safety fences are explained; these reasons are in particular the advantage of having barrrers that no vehicle can cross and which can reduce the number of accidents, and the fact that New Jersey barriers make for lower cost of construction and maintenance. The paper briefly describes developments in structures buHt in Belgium, details of such constructions, recent improvements in specifications and the results obtained wich regard co safety. Information is also given on the trend of cost of New Jersey barriers in Belgium in recent years.