Center for Transportation Research and Education

About the research

Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) has been widely used as a means to reduce the number of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges in the nation. This approach is important to state departments of transportation (DOTs) because of the number of structurally deficient bridges in the nation.

To complement ABC construction, which largely uses prefabricated components, concrete barriers should also follow the accelerated construction method so that bridges can be completed over as short of a duration as possible and be back open to the public as quickly as possible. Use of cast-in-place construction of barriers on ABC bridges is time consuming and not cost effective. Therefore, new ways to use prefabricated products for barrier construction should be investigated.

Following the evaluation of the current state of knowledge, Iowa State University researchers have developed precast concrete barriers that can be rapidly implemented. This initial research was funded by the Accelerated Bridge Construction-University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC) housed at Florida International University, which leads the ABC-UTC university consortium. This project will build upon the results of the ABC-UTC research.

The objective of this project is to develop an approved prefabricated barrier rail system for use on ABC projects.