Armorwire put to the test on killer road
Armorwire® Wire Rope Barrier is a legacy product
A 3.4 km stretch CSP’s Armorwire Median TL-4 Cable Barrier System installed as part of a multimillion-dollar overhaul of a killer stretch of State Highway 2 near Wellington, has been put to the test on several occasions.
“Since the Armorwire Median Barrier has been installed we have been called out to four separate strikes of the barrier where we have been required to undertake repairs,” says Chris Jones, Maintenance Manager for Fulton Hogan. “Two were minor with only two and three posts damaged but the other two were more serious with 10 and 20 posts requiring replacement.”
River Road has seen seven head-on crashes in the five-year period prior to the installation of the median barrier, with two tragically resulting in fatalities. A Taupo couple, whose lives changed forever when they lost their 18-year old daughter in a head-on collision in 2005, have been tireless advocates for making the highway safer with the installation of the median barrier.
Chris says that it’s hard to know what the causes of the crashes might have been but he is adamant that the new barrier will dramatically reduce the risk of serious injury and fatalities from these types of incidents.
| "Of the four crashes we were only made aware of the driver for one of them which was reported after the fact, which means that for the other strikes the barrier corrected the vehicles back into the lane and then they were able to continue," says Des O'Sullivan, Traffic Operations Manager for NZTA Wellington region. "I can comfortably say that there have been no injuries from these four strikes, showing the barrier is doing its job well." |
“The other thing to note about the Armorwire Barrier is that it is so quick and easy to repair,” adds Chris. “For the smaller incidents we can make repairs almost straight away and with the larger ones we can have the road back to normal within a couple of days which is significantly quicker and cheaper than with a rigid barrier.”