Pinned-Down Temporary Concrete Barrier with Transition Systems for Limited-Space Work Zone Applications

In work zones where space for placing temporary concrete barrier is very limited (such as bridge expansion or repair), the barrier must be restrained to prevent large lateral deflection due to vehicle impact. This paper presents the development and testing of a restrained F-shape temporary concrete barrier that has very limited deflections. Additionally, two transitions were developed for use with the restrained barrier — a transition from freestanding F-shape to the restrained barrier, and a transition from the restrained barrier to a rigid concrete barrier. Details of the development and crash testing of these transitions are also presented in this paper. The restrained temporary concrete barrier and its transitions were developed using a simple pinned-down anchoring method. Steel pins are simply dropped into inclined holes that start from the toe of the barrier and continue short distance into the underlying bridge deck or concrete pavement, thus locking the barrier in place. The drop-pin method makes it very easy to install the barrier, inspect for proper installation, and remove or relocate the temporary barrier in a work zone. The pinning method also results in minimal damage to the underlying bridge deck or concrete pavement. This makes it more desirable to use as opposed to some anchoring systems requiring through-deck bolting, which results in greater concrete damage and is difficult to install and relocate.