Report Result

TRP-03-442-25

Karla Lechtenberg (Polivka), Seok Hwan Yoo, Ronald Faller, Christopher Storf

2025-12-18

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) desired to evaluate their current roadside hardware systems following the implementation of the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware, Second Edition (MASH). Therefore, the transitions from Heavy-Post Blocked-Out (HPBO) W-Beam to box beam guide rail were evaluated according to MASH Test Level 3 (TL-3) crash test criteria. This transition can be used for both HPBO-to-box beam transitions and box beam-to-HPBO transitions. Test nos. NYHBT-1 and NYHBT-2 were conducted on the HPBO-to-box beam transition using MASH test designation nos. 3-21 and 3-20, respectively. Test nos. NYBHT-1 and NYBHT-2 were conducted on the box beam-to-HPBO transition using MASH test designation nos. 3-21 and 3-20, respectively. The target impact conditions of all four tests were a speed of 62 mph and an angle of 25 degrees. For each test, the critical impact point (CIP) was selected using MASH guidance and prior research data, considering the potential for snag at rail stiffness transitions, hardware failure, and vehicle instability. In all four tests, the vehicle was safely redirected, and all occupant risk values were within the allowable MASH limits. Therefore, test nos. NYHBT-1 and NYHBT-2 on the HPBO-to-box beam transition and test nos. NYBHT-1 and NYBHT-2 on the box beam-to-HPBO transition were deemed successful according to MASH TL-3 safety performance criteria.

Highway Safety, Crash Test, Roadside Appurtenances, Compliance Test, MASH, TL-3, Transition, W-Beam, Box Beam, HPBO, Strong Post

TRP-03-442-25.pdf