High tension cable median barrier: a scanning tour report

The Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT) coordinated a scanning tour to identify effective and efficient approaches of reducing the number and severity of freeway median crossover crashes. Representatives from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin DOTs, and the University of Illinois, visited Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas to learn from their experiences in the use of high-tension cable barriers, and to gather information on system characteristics and performance from the states and two manufacturers of high-tension cable barrier systems. Fieldinstalled high-tension cable barrier systems from four manufacturers were observed: U.S. High Tension Cable System, Brifen WRSF, CASS, and Safence. These cable barrier systems seem to perform similarly when hit by passenger vehicles. The performance at redirecting or stopping vehicles was reported to be excellent, and no major drawback of using high-tension cable barrier systems was found. It was reported that crash severity was reduced significantly compared to other barrier systems and no fatalities had been recorded on crashes at locations with hightension cable barriers. Some issues pertaining to optimum cable location, long-term benefit-cost analysis, TL-3 versus TL-4 requirements, 3-cable versus 4-cable systems, and others need additional exploration and experience to be addressed more precisely.