When it comes to road safety, guardrails play a crucial role in protecting motorists and pedestrians from potential accidents and hazards. Among the various types of guardrails available, Thrie-Beam and W-Beam guardrails stand out as two popular options. Each of these guardrail designs has its unique advantages, making them suitable for different road environments and conditions. In this article, we’ll delve into the differences between Thrie-Beam and W-Beam guardrails, examining their construction, applications, and benefits, to help you make an informed decision when choosing the most suitable road safety solution.
What are Thrie-Beam Guardrails? Thrie-Beam GuardrailsThrie-beam guardrails are made of galvanized steel and consist of three waves (or corrugations) instead of the typical two waves found in W-beam guardrails. The addition of the third wave improves the overall performance and strength of the barrier, making it more effective in redirecting and absorbing the impact energy of errant vehicles.
Thrie-Beam Guardrails Construction and MaterialsThrie-Beam guardrails are typically made from high-quality galvanized steel, offering exceptional durability and resistance to corrosion. The galvanized coating helps protect the guardrail from harsh weather conditions, extending its lifespan.
Thrie-Beam Guardrails ApplicationsThrie-Beam guardrails are often preferred for high-speed roadways, highways, and locations with heavy traffic, where the potential impact of larger vehicles is a significant concern. The extra containment capability of Thrie-Beam guardrails makes them ideal for roads with a higher risk of severe accidents.
Benefits of Thrie-Beam Guardrails:W-Beam guardrails are the most common type of guardrails used on roadways and highways. They feature a simple W-shaped design, which makes them easy to manufacture, install, and maintain.
W-beam GuardrailsW-Beam Guardrails Construction and MaterialsLike Thrie-Beam guardrails, W-Beam guardrails are also made from galvanized steel, providing excellent strength and resilience against impacts. The galvanized coating ensures that the guardrails remain effective for years, even in harsh weather conditions.
W-Beam Guardrails ApplicationsW-Beam guardrails are suitable for a wide range of road types, including rural roads, urban areas, and lower-speed highways. They are particularly effective in areas with moderate traffic and a lower risk of severe accidents involving larger vehicles.
Benefits of W-Beam Guardrails:When deciding between Thrie-Beam and W-Beam guardrails, several factors should be considered:
Guardrails are vital elements in ensuring road safety, preventing accidents, and protecting lives. Thrie-Beam and W-Beam guardrails each offer unique benefits, making them suitable for different road environments and conditions. When selecting the right guardrail solution, consider factors such as traffic volume, road design, and budget constraints.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Forbes has just published Curbing Cars: America’s Independence From The Auto Industry, an eBook investigating why a growing number of Americans are giving up their cars. Written by Forbes contributor and former New York Times Detroit bureau chief Micheline Maynard, this illuminating account of our changing automotive habits is available for download now. This excerpt examines the battle between highway advocates and those who want more public transportation.
In 2009, the same year that it provided $82 billion for the auto industry bailout, the Obama administration created a grant program called TIGER, for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery. There have been four rounds of such funding, totaling $4.1 billion.
While it comes nowhere near the amount spent to resuscitate the auto industry, the TIGER grants have had a broad impact across the country.
Officially, the money is to be used for road, rail, transit and port projects that “promise to achieve critical national objectives.” Each project has to meet a set of criteria, including safety, economic competitiveness, keeping infrastructure in a state of good repair, livability and environmental sustainability.
TIGER grants are covering all manner of urban and rural improvements, from redesigning the Memorial Bridge in Kittery, Maine, to a bus rapid transit program between Denver and Boulder, to bike lanes in a myriad number of cities. (You can see a map of TIGER programs here).
As these projects are built across the United States, there’s a vigorous debate over how much the federal government should spend on public transportation and whether it should pour more resources into infrastructure, such as highways, bridges and overpasses. Anyone who has driven a freeway in the Northeast or crossed a river in the Midwest has dealt with potholes, cracked concrete and constant repair work.
America remains a country heavily dependent on its freeways, as this infographic shows, to the consternation of those who would like more rail options, between major cities and from cities to suburbs. Disasters, like the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007, or the tractor-trailer crash on the Marquam Bridge in Portland in 2013 heralded calls for more attention to infrastructure.
Soon after Obama became president in 2009, the nation seemed awash in signs declaring that road repairs and other projects were underway as part of the $10.9 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act moves that accompanied his stimulus package. Those repairs made some difference.
By 2010, the Federal Highway Administration estimated that 50.6 percent of the nation’s travel took place on roads with “good quality travel.” That was a 4.2 percent increase over two years, the largest such increase since the department began keeping track in 1995, but it’s not exactly a strong report card.
But for some federal officials, that investment wasn’t enough. In a report on the nation’s highways, the Transportation Department said that the government needed to spend between $123.7 billion and $145.9 billion per year to maintain and improve the condition of roads and bridges alone.
“We have an infrastructure deficit in this country, and we need to create more jobs—improving our roads, bridges, and transit systems will provide help on both fronts,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. The report estimated that as much as $24.5 billion is needed per year to improve the condition of transit, rail and bus systems.
Parker Williams, a senior Xerox executive who monitors transportation trends, says there’s an easy explanation for this “infrastructure comes first” point of view. Williams was a highway administrator in Maryland, which has some of the most congested roads in the country around Baltimore and in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
To automobile users, the prevailing impression has been that transit only carries a small percentage of the trips that people take in the region (primarily because they are stuck in their cars). Thus, we should invest our money in highways, not in transit,” Williams says, explaining the highway advocates’ mindset.
Instead, Williams says it’s become clear that transit is a more efficient way to get commuters where they need to go. To that end, the Washington-Baltimore region has one of the most coordinated transit systems in the country.
Highway signs lead commuters to lots, where they can park and ride Metro trains into the major cities. Meanwhile, bus routes are arranged so that riders can emerge from train stations and complete their journeys. While Washingtonians remain frustrated at the frequent delays and breakdowns on Metro, they will be getting a new subway line, as well as streetcars, that can ease some of the congestion.
A number of transit advocates believe that the federal highway department’s estimates were based on an old way of looking at things. US PIRG, the advocacy group, noted that the Transportation Department forecasts that total vehicle miles would increase between 1.36 percent to 1.85 percent each year through 2030. That is despite the clear trend that driving is dropping and that Americans are only driving as much as they did in 1996.
“America has huge unmet needs for transportation investment, but we must be smart about those priorities,” says Phineas Baxandall, a senior analyst with the group. “We shouldn’t assume a return to past travel habits when Americans are persistently driving less and using other forms of transportation more.”
Even so, Baxandall acknowledges that the department couldn’t be completely blamed for its projections, which are based on data from the states.
In some places, according to the most recent information, the shift from driving hasn’t taken place. In others, it is taking place ahead of the national curve.
Clearly, the need for more infrastructure investment makes sense to anyone stuck in a traffic jam. And, one of the questions I’m most frequently asked is why freeways are still clogged, if people are driving less? The answer is that the people who are driving the most are generally driving on freeways, at the same times of day when motorists commute or head into cities for sporting events and other entertainment.
The real change is taking place on the surface streets above those freeways, and in the neighborhoods where fewer cars are being parked in driveways. For proof, just take a look around your town. Do you see half-empty strip malls, or are malls even being torn down, as the Woodville Mall was this year in Toledo?
Is the parking lot in your big local shopping center generally empty except at Christmas time? Have you often found it easier to get a spot in the parking structure downtown during the day? There’s your answer.
Williams at Xerox agrees. “I think we’re seeing a gradual restructuring of the way people are traveling,” he says. “The highway boom has peaked, and we need to recognize that we’ve got to look at other means of peoples’ travel other than just highways.” He concludes, “It’s not that you totally shift everything. But you make some adjustments.”
A number of Americans are showing they are willing to make personal adjustments, from being in the driver’s seat to sharing seats.
You can buy Curbing Cars: America’s Independence From The Auto Industry at Amazon and Apple now.