Motorway style crash barriers - where to buy?

[deano]

I have a job which requires replacement of parking bay crash/nudge barriers/buffers for a private residential estate.

The original installation comprised of 2 wooden rails to each bay (one above the other) between 2 'spring-loaded" posts, left and right of each bay. The posts comprise a vertical metal strap with a separate metal strap rising behind at a 45=B0 angle to meet (but not touch) the vertical strap at the top. These may be made up of a single length, in the form of a triangle, with the base cemented into the ground.

Either way, the original intention was that a car contacting the wooden rails would not meet solid resistance until the vertical post/strap was pushed back against the 45=B0 strap.

The original wooden rails were very lightweight and have long since been smashed and/or rotted away. Into each post there are fitted 2 heavy duty bolts which seem over specified for the lightweight wood... maybe the money ran out and wood substituted steel?

Anyhow, the owner would now like the barrier re-instated using metal (motorway style) rails, or something along those lines. Each bay is just over 8' wide and needs to share fixings on each post with the following bay, i.e. there are 2 holes per post, one above the other.

Anyone know where I can find such material?

Thanks, deano.

[John]

Anyone know where I can find such material?

Do a Google for "Armco" lots of info there!

HTH

John

[deano]

Thanks John.

Have just emailed them with the specs. I'll be interested to see what they say... methinks when something enters realm of "Street Furniture", client's jaw hits the floor :)

Back to timber (and cheap mind) it is then!!

deano.

[Andrew Gabriel]

You'll find the double ribbed corrugated ones are much bigger and more ugly close up than they appear when driving past them on the highway.

What about using something like a scaffold pole?

[chris French]

In message , deano writes

I suspect not only will it be expensive, but it might look pretty ugly and over-engineered for the task.

What about getting something welded up from steel tube say?

[meow2222]

Yes. I'd have thought 4x4 timber would do the job. Unless the client is expecting impacts at speed.

NT

[meow2222]

Or if not 4x4, just steel square section tube.

NT

[James Salisbury]

The original installation comprised of 2 wooden rails to each bay (one above the other) between 2 'spring-loaded" posts, left and right of each bay. The posts comprise a vertical metal strap with a separate metal strap rising behind at a 45° angle to meet (but not touch) the vertical strap at the top. These may be made up of a single length, in the form of a triangle, with the base cemented into the ground.

Either way, the original intention was that a car contacting the wooden rails would not meet solid resistance until the vertical post/strap was pushed back against the 45° strap.

The original wooden rails were very lightweight and have long since been smashed and/or rotted away. Into each post there are fitted 2 heavy duty bolts which seem over specified for the lightweight wood... maybe the money ran out and wood substituted steel?

Anyhow, the owner would now like the barrier re-instated using metal (motorway style) rails, or something along those lines. Each bay is just over 8' wide and needs to share fixings on each post with the following bay, i.e. there are 2 holes per post, one above the other.

Anyone know where I can find such material?

Thanks, deano.

Try 5705100 Sectional Steel Barrier at

[nightjar]

...

Go to

search on car park barrier

Colin Bignell

[deano]

Ooh. Lots of good suggestion from you lot, thanks.

I agree that 'actual' motorway barrier would be over-spec. Something of that 'style' but smaller and more aesthetic is what I'm thinking and my client's wish is for something that will last much longer than the original timber planks, hence his comment about using metal.

Scaffhold poles or square sectional steel sound ideal. I'll have a browse through the links you guys supplied and I'll also pop over to Cannon Steel in Enfield later on to see if they can fabricate something for me. This is likely to be much cheaper than something "off the shelf".

Ta deano.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You should know that armco is designed that way to be safe in high speed glancing blows. It is designed to deform,. and possibly slice into the car bodywork to absorb high speed impacts and dissipate the energy over a distance.

Its use for parking is at best inappropiate, and at worst a waste of time.

The best material for parking is actually a tough hedge..

However, given what you have, I'd be inclined to use scaffolding poles covered in foam insulation.

[Guy King]

The message from "deano" contains these words:

Why not just use a bit of box section steel?

[Guy King]

The message from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

Just don't use blackthorn or hawthorn. Unless you're 100% in sweeping up the clippings you'll get punctures even through car tyres.

[Doki]

Perhaps use rubberised steel cable attached to something with a bit of bounce? Or put in a small kerb for the back wheels to hit?

[Owain]

I'd suggest "bendy bollards" or for the post-industrial look, tractor tyres on edge half-buried in the ground.

Owain

[Bob Eager]

Our local Network Rail station has the best solution. Short (2 foot) pieces of rail embedded vertically in concrete. Cross members made from more old rail. Still a good post-industrial look, and totally unforgiving!

[meow2222]

or 4x4 oak would last a century plus.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

hehe. Ive got goop in my lawn tractor tyres now. About 1 puncture every three hours was the worst ...

[nightjar]

I remember seeing a barrier on an industrial estate made from 250mm x 250mm I beams. Someone had still managed to bend it.

Colin Bignell

[Guy King]

The message from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

I punctured to tyres in one go. Dad had clipped the hedge while I was at the tyre shop having four new tyres fitted to my Fiat 127.