Weren’t the old median barriers ‘perfectly good?’
By Rodger Nichols
of The Dalles Chronicle
State legislators are in the busiest of times in Salem these days as major pieces of legislation start to move through the system.
That doesn’t mean legislators aren’t paying attention to the folks back home.
Take the case of Rep. John Huffman whose sprawling House District 59 covers all or part of nine counties, including Wasco and Sherman.
“We got a call from a constituent in Mosier,” said Huffman. “They wanted to know why road crews were replacing perfectly good median barriers on Interstate 84.”
Huffman, who serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee On Transportation and Economic Development, asked that same question of Oregon Department of Transportation representatives as the large transportation bill moves through the committee process.
The short answer he got was that the old 32-inch-tall tongue-and-groove median barriers on that section of the highway are not “perfectly good” any longer. They do not meet current federal highway standards, particularly in accidents involving the much heavier trucks prowling today’s highways.
They have been replaced elsewhere on the Interstate with 42-inch-tall pin-and-loop barriers. The greater height and heavier weight do a better job of what the median is designed to do in case of an accident — push the vehicle back into its own lane, rather than allow it to cross into oncoming traffic.
That’s the short answer.
The long answer is more complicated and interesting.
Recently, project and operations engineer Brad DeHart of ODOT in The Dalles, and Peter Murphy of ODOT Region 4 in Bend gave The Chronicle a tour of the project, which involves replacing the median between milepost 64.81, just east of Hood River, to Milepost 70.1 near Mosier.
They said that this stretch of median was originally scheduled for replacement in 2004, when the freeway was being repaved in that area. It would have been replaced at that time with the 42-inch pin-and-loop barriers.
But in 2004 the Columbia River Gorge Commission was involved with a review of the Gorge Management Plan, the document that must be adhered to for any new construction in the gorge, including Interstate 84.
“We had rules in the gorge management plan for all development, but they really weren’t specific to transportation projects,” said Brian Litt, the commission’s planning manager.
That led to the formation of a group of stakeholders that included the gorge commission, the Forest Service, Counties, ODOT and the Federal Highway Administration.
The goal was to create design guidelines for highway features and projects on I-84 that would be consistent with the Scenic Area Act and the Gorge Management Plan.
“It was a year and half process that included nearly 400 participants throughout the gorge,” said Kristin Stallman, National Scenic Area coordinator for ODOT.
While that was under way, ODOT removed the median replacement portion from the 2004 work plan.
That was a good move. The I-84 Corridor Strategy design guidelines weren’t finished until the end of 2005.
Those requirements resulted in a new median barrier design that is seven inches shorter (35 inches instead of the now-standard 42), is cast in place instead of being assembled in sections, and painted a brown earth tone.
The shorter height allows for better visibility of the views in the gorge, the earth-toned paint is less noticeable than concrete gray, and the cast-in-place design is safer, because it’s less likely to be pushed out of the way in an accident involving a heavy truck.
Both the old tongue-and-groove design and the newer 45-inch pin-and-loop design being replaced were precast in 12.5 foot sections that were hooked together, but not specifically anchored to the pavement.
In accident situations, the tongue-and-groove design tended to be broken up by impact, while the heavier 42-inch sections tended to remain intact.
“You sometimes see them shifted over,” after an accident, said Brad DeHart. “We go back and pull them into place.”
The new 35-inch design, being shorter, is lighter in weight, but that’s offset by being anchored to the pavement.
The current project, known as Bundle 225, includes other improvements along the Hood River to Mosier stretch, including grading, drainage and paving.
It’s also the first project to use the new gorge-compatible cast-in-place design.
Brian Litt of the gorge commission said the idea is not to just tear down existing barriers to put up some new ones because they’ll be painted earth tones.
“The idea is, when you do need to replace those barriers, you replace them with this type, consistent with the overall design guidelines,” he said. “Neither the gorge commission nor the Forest Service nor ODOT wants to spend money unnecessarily or do anything that compromises safety”
Kristin Stallman agrees: “That median needed to be replaced for safety reasons,” she said. “We weren’t just doing it for the scenic.”
The “plan” is that all median barrier will someday be replaced, but it won’t happen quickly .The 42-inch barriers now installed on most of the freeway won’t be replaced until they are no longer safe
“We’re doing another project between Multnomah Falls and Cascade locks, and the median barrier there was fine and of the proper kind, so it didn’t need to be replaced,” said Stallman. “On that project we’re replacing the guardrail with core ten weathering steel which is the new guardrail standard. Whenever we need to replace guardrail, we’ll replace it with the new standard.”
Real life conditions have caused one change in the implementation of the new design: the addition of scuppers. Those are the channels at the base of the median which allow accumulating rainwater to flow to the other side of the median to reach drains.
“There was a general feeling by the engineers that there was sufficient grade, that whatever water would be there would drain into the installed drains and into the drainage system,” said ODOT’s Peter Murphy.
“We did think about it, but we thought wrong,” he said. “Now we have gone back in with scuppers that and being poured in place and retrofitted. People listened. It’s a good example of what can work.”
The nice thing for taxpayers is that the new design is actually cheaper than the 42-inch standard design.
The most recent bids for 42 inch tall median barrier in Oregon were last year, said Murphy. The average contract price was $66.07 per foot on a total of 32,544 feet that were installed on various projects all over the state.
This year, the Hood River-to Mosier contract for the 35-inch cast-in-place barrier was for 29,250 feet $44.75 per foot, just about a third less than last year’s statewide average for the 42 inch style.
“Remember, that’s a bid on a job, and different bids on different jobs have different numbers.” said Murphy. “But that’s what the bid is on this job.”
Murphy, who came to ODOT following a long career as a broadcaster said, “What I have found as a layman coming in, is the engineers actually give quite a bit of thought to what it is they are doing. People can find fault in what they get, but they don’t just pull this stuff out of the air; they spend more time than you and I would care to think.”
Brad DeHart agreed. “As an engineer, I lie awake at night thinking about these things.”
And the inquiry that started it all?
“I’ve been encouraging state agencies to do a better job at getting the word out early,” said Rep. John Huffman
“If ODOT had just sat down with The Chronicle and told them ‘You’re going to be seeing the barricades being redone through here, and here’s why,’ That would go a long way on helping people’s perception.
“An ounce of information in advance can save you a ton of grief down the road.”
