Cable Barriers ain't all that and a bag of chips

[Road Hog]

While looking for local stories in general, found this story about a Chevrolet Tahoe that pierced a cable barrier on I-45 in Texas and caused a head-on in the opposite lane, resulting in three fatalites.

https://mikegrossman.blog/2025/car-accident-palmer-tx-ih-45-fm-813/

If a Tahoe can overcome a barrier, think of what a fully-laden 18-wheeler could do.

[LilianaUwU]

Yeah, I know. A major accident involving failing cable barriers killed a few people on QC 199 between Havre-Aubert and L'Étang-du-Nord in the early 2000s, including a distant cousin of mine. There's a reason cable barriers aren't ever put up anymore.

[seicer]

They have never been advertised as a 100% impenetrable barrier. Steel cable systems, mounted on weak steel posts, are designed to reduce the impact force on occupants by absorbing energy from crashes, redirecting vehicles, and preventing them from crossing into oncoming traffic. These systems have been proven to reduce median crossover crashes. (citation, citation, citation, citation, many citations and evaluations from various DOTs)

Traditional metal beam guardrails are designed to deform and deflect to absorb some crash energy and redirect the vehicle. They deflect less than cable barriers.

Concrete barriers are generally rigid and result in little to no deflection, and redirect rather than absorb energy from an impact.

To achieve a completely impenetrable barrier, every DOT would need to install costly concrete barriers in every median, which is impractical.

--

Yeah, I know. A major accident involving failing cable barriers killed a few people on QC 199 between Havre-Aubert and L'Étang-du-Nord in the early 2000s, including a distant cousin of mine. There's a reason cable barriers aren't ever put up anymore.

The claim that cable barrier systems are no longer being adopted is inaccurate. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) prioritizes installations based on crash analysis, median width, and slope criteria, having installed 262 miles of cable barriers so far. The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) has implemented cable barriers on hundreds of miles of highways and is currently working on a program to upgrade existing systems from three strands to four, with posts embedded in concrete. Additionally, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has largely completed its initial installation of cable barriers on interstates and is now shifting its focus to expressways and freeways.

Furthermore, there is no evidence to support the claim that Quebec has stopped the installation of cable barrier systems. I can't find any citation.

[ElishaGOtis]

They have never been advertised as a 100% impenetrable barrier. Steel cable systems, mounted on weak steel posts, are designed to reduce the impact force on occupants by absorbing energy from crashes, redirecting vehicles, and preventing them from crossing into oncoming traffic. These systems have been proven to reduce median crossover crashes. (citation, citation, citation, citation, many citations and evaluations from various DOTs)

Traditional metal beam guardrails are designed to deform and deflect to absorb some crash energy and redirect the vehicle. They deflect less than cable barriers.

Concrete barriers are generally rigid and result in little to no deflection, and redirect rather than absorb energy from an impact.

To achieve a completely impenetrable barrier, every DOT would need to install costly concrete barriers in every median, which is impractical.

--

Yeah, I know. A major accident involving failing cable barriers killed a few people on QC 199 between Havre-Aubert and L'Étang-du-Nord in the early 2000s, including a distant cousin of mine. There's a reason cable barriers aren't ever put up anymore.

The claim that cable barrier systems are no longer being adopted is inaccurate. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) prioritizes installations based on crash analysis, median width, and slope criteria, having installed 262 miles of cable barriers so far. The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) has implemented cable barriers on hundreds of miles of highways and is currently working on a program to upgrade existing systems from three strands to four, with posts embedded in concrete. Additionally, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has largely completed its initial installation of cable barriers on interstates and is now shifting its focus to expressways and freeways.

Furthermore, there is no evidence to support the claim that Quebec has stopped the installation of cable barrier systems. I can't find any citation.

FDOT is installing a bunch as well. SR-85 and SR-293 are a few recent examples.

[Rothman]

There was a NYSDOT engineer some years ago that lauded cable barriers and the ability they actually have to stop a semi...as long as they're tensioned and installed correctly...which was the rub...

[vdeane]

They have never been advertised as a 100% impenetrable barrier. Steel cable systems, mounted on weak steel posts, are designed to reduce the impact force on occupants by absorbing energy from crashes, redirecting vehicles, and preventing them from crossing into oncoming traffic. These systems have been proven to reduce median crossover crashes. (citation, citation, citation, citation, many citations and evaluations from various DOTs)

Traditional metal beam guardrails are designed to deform and deflect to absorb some crash energy and redirect the vehicle. They deflect less than cable barriers.

Concrete barriers are generally rigid and result in little to no deflection, and redirect rather than absorb energy from an impact.

To achieve a completely impenetrable barrier, every DOT would need to install costly concrete barriers in every median, which is impractical.

This is why NYSDOT calls it guiderail and not guardrail.

[74/171FAN]

This is why NYSDOT calls it guiderail and not guardrail.

I was told that PennDOT was court-ordered to use guiderail instead of guardrail.

[Bitmapped]

Yeah, I know. A major accident involving failing cable barriers killed a few people on QC 199 between Havre-Aubert and L'Étang-du-Nord in the early 2000s, including a distant cousin of mine. There's a reason cable barriers aren't ever put up anymore.

They're actively being installed in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They don't stop every vehicle, but their price difference makes it possible to cover a lot more areas than could be done with W-beam, thrie-beam, or concrete barriers.

[jeffandnicole]

There was a NYSDOT engineer some years ago that lauded cable barriers and the ability they actually have to stop a semi...as long as they're tensioned and installed correctly...which was the rub...

Cable barriers also work great when vehicles hit them at certain angles.  An overweight, speeding truck careening off an object and hitting the barrier at an angle more than standard is going to probably crash right thru it.  For that matter, it could go right thru a guard/guiderail also, but at least that has a better chance of slowing or stopping it.

Yeah, I know. A major accident involving failing cable barriers killed a few people on QC 199 between Havre-Aubert and L'Étang-du-Nord in the early 2000s, including a distant cousin of mine. There's a reason cable barriers aren't ever put up anymore.

They're actively being installed in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They don't stop every vehicle, but their price difference makes it possible to cover a lot more areas than could be done with W-beam, thrie-beam, or concrete barriers.

After some crossover crashes, NJDOT started installing protection barriers. They were using cable barriers in some areas.  They were getting hit often enough early on NJDOT realized any cost savings was going to go into constant repair, so they just went with W & thrie beams.

[jay8g]

I remember there being a whole big controversy about cable barriers in Washington in the mid-00s, where there were a few crashes where people made the same claims about them not working or even making things worse in some cases. This one seems to have gotten the most press, and even a whole report in 2007.

In the years since, WSDOT has replaced older low-tension cable barriers with new high-tension ones, but hasn't installed significant sections of new cable barrier. Sections of highway that didn't have median barriers installed by the 00s (and new sections of divided highway built since then) generally still don't have any sort of median barrier.

The uproar over cable barriers around here really only lasted a few years and I haven't heard anything since. It's interesting to hear that other areas are still having the same discussions.

[seicer]

The discussions seem to go in cycles. Remember the recent uproar over Teslas and other hefty electric vehicles puncturing through guardrails? You can only design guardrails and guiderails to accommodate most vehicles, but not every vehicle type—and accommodating the growing weight of electric vehicles presents a significant engineering challenge. Traditional guardrails were calibrated for the dimensions and mass of standard passenger vehicles. As EVs grow heavier due to battery packs, they can exceed the tested impact thresholds, potentially rendering existing infrastructure inadequate in high-speed collisions.

It is not a reasonable expectation to redesign and reimplement guardrails across the nation simply because we have accepted vehicles that are increasingly large and heavy, often outfitted with advanced technology that still fails to prevent such accidents. Infrastructure cannot be expected to compensate indefinitely for the shortcomings of vehicle design and driver behavior.