The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials announced its approval on Dec. 22 of a schedule for implementing the use of such roadside safety hardware devices as guardrails and crash cushions on the National Highway System that meet new crash-testing standards.
"The nation's motor vehicle fleet continues to evolve, and our roadside hardware must keep pace," said Bud Wright, AASHTO's executive director. "Vehicles have increased in size and light-truck bumper heights are higher. It's important that AASHTO and the transportation safety community support the design and manufacture of roadside devices that meet the safety needs of America's changing vehicle fleet."
AASHTO set the schedule based on the anticipated availability of products that meet its Manuel for Assessing Safety Hardware criteria, including the time needed to develop and test these devices:
• Dec. 31, 2017: w-beam barriers and cast-in-place concrete barriers
• June 30, 2018: w-beam terminals
• Dec. 31, 2018: cable barriers, cable barrier terminals, and crash cushions
• Dec. 31, 2019: bridge rails, transitions, all other longitudinal barriers (including portable barriers installed permanently), all other terminals, sign supports and all other breakaway hardware
• Temporary work-zone devices manufactured before Dec. 31, 2019, and successfully tested under the 2009 edition of MASH may continue to be used throughout their normal service lives
• Temporary work devices, including portable barriers, manufactured after Dec. 31, 2019, must have been successfully tested under the current MASH standards
