The Usage of Concrete Barriers for Modern Road Design and Efficient Construction Site Management in Europe

Safety barriers are an essential device on roads, especially on highways. The European Standard EN 1317 defines the requirements of different safety levels that safety barriers have to comply with. Precast concrete and slipformed/cast-in-situ barriers are very successfully used as permanent barrier. Additionally precast barriers are a perfect solution for temporary applications. With concrete barriers highest containment levels can be very efficiently reached thereby also the safety of passengers of a crashing car is important and the EN 1317 defines limits for certain indicators that must not be exceeded. Well designed concrete barriers manage these requirements as well. For different applications different barrier types are available (permanent, temporary, central reserve, edge of a road, bridges). Concrete barriers have clear advantages compared to other materials: high conainment levels against breaking through accidents, a minimum of maintenance and repair works, safety for motorcyclers,... A case study of a real application finalises this article.