Background of barrier design
The design of traffic and bridge barrier walls specified in the
CHBDC is based on the American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials’ AASHTO Guide Specification
for Bridge Railings6
and the AASHTO Guide for Selecting,
Locating and Designing Traffic Barriers.
7
The CHBDC
specifies that barriers should be crash tested to comply with the
requirements of a specific performance level. However, barrierdeck
systems are subject to static load testing to collapse to
qualify the barrier-deck anchorage in lieu of crash testing.