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Importance of Guard Rails

Posted on October 12th, 2020

Highway Guard Rail

Highway guardrails are crucial to keeping roadways safe by helping to prevent minor accidents from escalating to major ones. Guard rails are normally placed in safe areas that protect drivers from more dangerous areas along roadways.They protect drivers from areas such as high embankments, dark curves, steep slopes, sharp corners, working to absorb the sudden impact of the collision. This helps to minimize injuries to the passengers and the vehicle, while also protecting pedestrians on the highway.
Guardrail barriers keep drivers safe and are quickly repaired if there is an accident.

Purpose of a Guard Rail

A guard rail’s purpose is to protect drivers who turn off of the road. The rail is used to prevent drivers from hitting obstacles such as steep embankments, hillsides, utility poles, retaining, bridge pillars, etc. It is safer to hit the guard rail than to hit these obstacles. Guard rails work to reduce the severity of accidents and make the roads safer for drivers.

Types of Guard Rails

Highway guard rails are typically either PVC coated or galvanized. A zinc or PVC coating prevents the guard rail from rusting corroding and also helps to protect it from damage caused by harsh weather.

Galvanized guard rails are made from high strength 12-gauge and 10-gauge galvanized steel. This provides the guard rail with effective impact absorption in the event of a collision. The most common guard rails are galvanized W-beam guardrails. These are longitudinal barriers that are designed to help reduce the severity of a vehicle accident.

This type of rail is roll-formed into the shape of a W to help it catch a car bumper. They designed to be effective and economical from their mounting hardware to the wooden blackouts.

Guard Rail Installation Services

Fence by Maintenance Service is experienced in installing guard rails for a wide range of applications, including for primary and secondary roads. No job is too big or difficult for our team to handle. Contact us today to learn more!