Introducing
The Safe Stop™ Earth Barrier
Expected to be the first MASH TL-6 longitudinal median barrier.*
what it does
For today’s roadway median projects, barriers are absolutely critical for protecting motorists and infrastructure.
The Safe Stop™ Earth Barrier is a modern and inventive roadway barrier that is designed to replace or retrofit cable median barriers and other types of roadway median barriers. It is designed to be strong and resilient enough to stop an 80,000 lb tractor-tanker trailer while also protecting occupants in smaller vehicles, especially for impacts involving motorcyclists and small cars.
unique characteristics
The Safe Stop™ Earth Barrier, like many of our other products, is designed without dangerous openings or exposed sharp edges. The outer shell provides numerous benefits:
- For small vehicle impacts, especially motorcyclists, the forgiving material used for the outer shell provides exceptional protection.
- Protection of interior components of the Earth Barrier and existing cable median barrier
- Enables the barrier to be anchored to any type of terrain, including sloped grades
- Erosion and water control features exist
- Exterior can be customized for aesthetic appeal or enhanced safety
- Less maintenance required for adjacent landscaping, e.g., eliminates the need for vegetation control.
A unique anchorage system is utilized to secure the Earth Barrier to any terrain and provide additional strength to the barrier system. The anchorage system can be integrated with other components to develop a secondary system that helps control erosion. Furthermore, this secondary system channels water flow and acts as a mow strip to control vegetation growth around the barrier.
To make installation as simple as possible, Safe Stop™ has also designed unique equipment and machinery that quickly and efficiently installs our Earth Barrier on any type of terrain (steep slopes included) and around any object (e.g., light poles, large signs, poles, columns, etc.). This unique equipment and machinery allows the Earth Barrier to be installed at a much faster rate than typical median barrier installations.
Other unique characteristics include:
- The Earth Barrier is made in segments that can be easily repaired or replaced after an impact event occurs or when maintenance is necessary for other reasons. No repairs should be needed for light to moderate impacts. When more severe collisions occur, the ability to replace and repair the barrier in segments greatly reduces the time and cost associated with post-impact maintenance.**
- Flowers, signs, etc. can be added to the top of the Earth Barrier to enhance aesthetics and provide additional roadway markings.
- Electric wiring can be incorporated into the design for lighting purposes.
- By utilizing our unique equipment/machinery and innovative materials, erosion and water control features can be easily integrated to the sides of the barrier to greatly reduce landscaping maintenance. In addition, these components also act as a mow strip by eliminating the need of vegetation control in the near vicinity of the barrier.
BARRIER CONNECtionS
The Earth Barrier is able to smoothly connect to our Guardrail Enhancer and Headwall Barrier. Installation is quick and efficient with unique transition hardware.
On the ends of the Earth Barrier, the Safe Stop™ Headwall Barrier can be installed to provide safety for vehicle occupants during head-on impact events.
When space becomes limited or the desired application changes, e.g., from median to roadside application, the Earth Barrier can transition to the Guardrail Enhancer for enhanced vehicular protection in these types of locations.
composition &
strength
Safe Stop™ Earth Barriers can be made virtually any size, which allows the strength capabilities of the barrier to best complement the application where it will be used.
The material composition and internal components of the Safe Stop™ Earth Barrier can vary to match local terrain and available materials.
The internal composition of the Safe Stop™ Earth Barrier consists of locally available soil integrated with our unique lattice structure.
For areas where vehicles more frequently run off the roadway or more severe impact events are expected, longitudinal rail components can be installed on the profile of the Earth Barrier to increase it’s strength and durability.
Overall, the Safe Stop™ Earth Barrier provides transportation planning professionals with a new and unique barrier option.
Contact us to discuss your particular application needs for a customized solution.
*Extensive non-accredited full-scale crash testing of Safe Stop Earth Barrier prototypes have been performed to replicate MASH testing conditions and optimize the design of this barrier system. Accredited testing will be performed to assess compliance of this barrier under MASH TL-6 criteria. MASH TL-6 crash testing includes testing of small cars and pickup trucks, but the MASH 36000T vehicle (80,000 lb. Tractor-Tanker Trailer) will be tested at an impact speed of 50 mph and impact angle of 15 degrees to assess the Earth Barrier’s ability to safely contain and redirect the largest vehicles expected on any given roadway.
** Components are designed to be reusable for the majority of impact events. Reusability is determined by the specifying roadside authority or state DOT.