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I’ve attached some photos of a situation one our inspectors has run into. When the contractor was installing the guardrail, he discovered the pavement in the bridge approach area was poured slightly wider right up next to the bridge than shown in the plans. As a result, he had to shim things a little to place the guardrail. This is on the trailing side of a two lane bridge with two way traffic, and the installation is our BA-201. The post closest to the approach has a 4 inch spacer, and the next two posts have 2 inch spacers.

The question I have is can we place spacers like this in the transition section without compromising how the system will function?

Thanks again for your help.

We have previously commented that deeper blockouts in guardrail transitions should not negatively affect the performance of the system (see link to Q&A site below).  Transitions are stiffened guardrail regions with reduced deflections.  Thus, the likelihood of extended blockouts causing abnormal loading to the post and causing premature buckling is minimal.  The 2-4 inch deeper blockouts you are proposing should be fine.

https://mwrsf-qa.unl.edu/view.php?id=850