Road Barrier Repair Costs and Influencing Factors
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper presents a study that examines repair costs for different road barrier types and factors that influence these costs. The analyses focused on w-beam and cable barriers used as median barriers. To some extent, pipe barriers, Kohlswa-beam barriers, and concrete barriers were also studied. The influencing factors included in this study were road type, speed limit, barrier type, and seasonal effects. A case study was conducted in four regions of the Swedish Road Administration. Data were collected from 1,625 barrier repairs carried out during 2005 and 2006. The results show that the number of barrier repairs and the average repair cost per vehicle kilometer are higher along collision-free roads than along motorways and 4-lane roads. The results also show that the number of barrier repairs and the average repair cost per vehicle kilometer are higher for cable barrier than for other barrier types. No conclusion can be drawn regarding influence of speed limits on barrier repairs and associated costs as the result from the regions are divergent and not statistically significant.
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Acknowledgments
The study presented in this paper is part of a doctoral project “Road Design for Lower Maintenance Costs” at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. A major part of the study is conducted at Dalarna University. Financial support provided by the Swedish Road Administration through the Centre for Maintenance of Infrastructure (CDU) is appreciatively acknowledged. Parts of the data collection were carried out under supervision from Hawzheen Karim and Rolf Magnusson by Mikael Thörnblad, Tobias Helin, David Norén, and Carl-Gustav Eriksson at Chalmers University of Technology, and Lars Albinsson and Henrik Angantyr at Dalarna University, whose contributions are greatly appreciated. Arne Carlsson at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) and Åke Löfqvist and Anders Håkansson at the Swedish Road Administration are gratefully acknowledged for their valuable ideas and guidance. Sincere appreciation is also expressed to Sandra Cross Rosell for proofreading of the manuscript.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 5 • May 2011
Pages: 349 - 359
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 3, 2009
Accepted: Sep 10, 2010
Published online: Apr 15, 2011
Published in print: May 1, 2011
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