Cable guard rails

[SSOWorld]

Lots of states have started using these "wait-a-minute" cables (as GR Van has dubbed them in his website) for years now.  I have seen them "in action" as there were may car grills caught up in them in northeast AR this weekend on I-55.

[cl94]

^^ Whoa.  I would not trust that to prevent an errant vehicle from crashing into that and avoid entering the oncoming lanes.

I agree. A concrete barrier of appropriate height is much needed in that situation. I don't think I've ever seen a cable guard rail used in such a way.

Yeah, that is not a good location for a cable barrier. Vehicle hitting it would go into the opposing lanes.

[CANALLER]

Road Man--

N.Y.S. still uses cable rail, although not as often as in years past.  In some areas, new runs are still being installed.  The white triangular posts you referred to were used as far back as the Depression, but all runs installed in the last 40-50 years use standard 3" I-posts.  They're called "Universal Posts" because they can be used with cable, W-beam, or box beam. 

The vast majority of rail installed is box beam, which we first designed in the '60's.  The basic design hasn't changed all that much since then, with the most noticeable difference being that the splice plates were originally outside of the joints.  There are a few runs with this feature still out there.

Although some runs of W-beam are still installed (particularly in W.N.Y.), the box beam is still the best choice, and looks a lot better than the W-beam used everywhere else in the country.  It can be used in any situation, and can seamlessly transition to bridge rail, culvert rail, across the face of an abutment or across any other obstruction.

The cable rails are still used in some areas too, particularly in the North Country where the snow really piles up.  The cables allow more plowed snow to go through them, which provides more room on narrow Adirondack roads.

The rails are also installed on the slope of a ditch, as you and others say.  This is to prevent errant smaller vehicles from actually diving under them and heading into oncoming traffic.

Several other comments also mentioned the amount of give in cable rails being much higher.  This is true under normal conditions, but it's "Deflection Distance" can also be reduced significantly by adjusting the spacing of the posts, like if the run is passing in front of a telephone pole.

[roadfro]

Nevada didn't use to use cable rails, but has started installing them in certain places in the last five or so years.

The wide median of US 395 in and south of Carson City are a couple of the earlier and more prominent locations.

[GCrites]

I just drove I-70 from Columbus to Springfield and I'd say almost half of the length of the cable barriers was compromised somehow.

[D-Dey65]

New York still uses them, although they're mainly found on freeways. Typically placed in depressed medians or next to a gradual slope.

Really? Because most of the ones I've seen look like they're leftover from the 1930's or 1940's and many of them had the cables removed while the concrete poles remain neglected along the roads. I give you a road within Wildwood State Park as an example of this, but you can also find them on the westbound rest area on NY 27 in Bridgehampton.

[cl94]

New York still uses them, although they're mainly found on freeways. Typically placed in depressed medians or next to a gradual slope.

Really? Because most of the ones I've seen look like they're leftover from the 1930's or 1940's and many of them had the cables removed while the concrete poles remain neglected along the roads. I give you a road within Wildwood State Park as an example of this, but you can also find them on the westbound rest area on NY 27 in Bridgehampton.

Those are the old style. Newer ones are similar to this example on US 219.

[cpzilliacus]

Maryland once used plenty of cable "guardrails," often mounted on timber posts, much more so in the pre-Interstate days. 

I do not believe they are used much, if at all, on the state-maintainted ("free" or toll) network now.  Steel "W" guardrail is very much preferred, usually just galvanized, sometimes Coreten or other brown shades (I-270 and Md. 200).

Virginia uses "W" guardrails as well as cable.  Not sure when or why they use one or the other.  An example from I-66 with cable on both sides of the westbound lanes is here, but not so far away on the eastbound side of the same freeway, here are "W" rails on both sides.

[jp the roadgeek]

CT has them in more rural areas, especially between Danbury and Waterbury on I-84

https://goo.gl/maps/k36CcfV5SQL2

[D-Dey65]

Those are the old style. Newer ones are similar to this example on US 219.

Yeah, I was wondering about those old style ones. When did they really start to do away with them? I used to see plenty of them still around in the 1960's.

[SignGeek101]

Like this? https://goo.gl/maps/vVMB2sukLju

Their common throughout Ontario, mostly in rural areas. I'm not sure whether the MTO is still using them in new installs or not.

[7/8]

I had a co-op at the MTO last fall (2015) doing roadside safety OPSDs (standard drawings) and I believe their policy is cable guide rail is okay on lower traffic, rural roads due to being more economical. Of course, there needs to be sufficient room on the other side to allow for the high deflection of cable guide rail.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota has become a very heavy user of these on rural interstates in the last few years.

[PurdueBill]

Peabody, Mass has an example of ancient Massachusetts cable guardrail that used to be much more common--triangular concrete posts with two lines of cable.  As can be seen, this specimen is in really terrible shape with rebar exposed and all there is to a couple posts even.  Peabody probably will not replace it until it is hit and requires replacement at the expense of someone's insurance or something!

A more modern version had metal I-shaped posts like modern guardrail with three cables threaded through circular/elliptical holders at each post.  Examples still exist here and there but are harder to find every day.

The modern cable barrier for medians that has been installed in many states lately is really a different kind of animal than the ancient types.  The modern one is aimed at avoiding crossover accidents, while the really old stuff was for all the purposes of a guardrail (which it wasn't necessarily great for).  The examples of median cable barrier that is very recent are a different kind of thing than the old kind which has been replaced by modern W-shaped rail.

[UCFKnights]

I believe Florida has only started to use them in the past few years, since having a large grassy median was determined to be no longer enough to seperate directions of traffic. At the very least, they have become much more prevalent. With more rules just being past that most of our retention ponds on all roads need guardrails now too, I imagine we'll see them there as well in areas that would previously have gotten nothing.