Median barriers are commonly used to separate opposing lanes of traffic on divided highways and to separate managed lanes from general purpose lanes. Concrete median barriers (CMBs) are often preferred on urban freeways with narrow medians because of their minimal deflection and low maintenance. However, long, continuous runs of CMBs limit access of emergency and maintenance vehicles to the other side of a roadway or a managed lane. Implementation of crashworthy median barrier gates at these locations can maintain the desired level of median protection for motorists while offering improved cross-median access for emergency and maintenance vehicles. A new median barrier gate was developed and crash tested. The gate spans a 30-ft opening in a CMB and consists of two vertically stacked 12- x 12- x -in. steel tubes connected to steel end brackets with 2-in. diameter steel pins. The gate is economical to fabricate and install. It can be manually operated by a single person and is designed to accommodate reversible traffic flow on both sides of the median and be operable in both directions on each end. The median barrier gate satisfies the criteria for impact performance of Test Level 3 of the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware and is considered suitable for implementation on divided highways at locations where cross-median access is desired.
