A titan of a barrier gate from SMA

The Titanus barrier gate from SMA Road Safety is ideal for areas characterised by a reduced length opening section.
By David Arminas February 4, 2022 Read time: 2 mins
The Titanus barrier gate from Italian firm SMA Road Safety is light-weight - suitable for use on bridges and viaducts

SMA Road Safety’s new Titanus barrier gate is tested in class H4B to allow for continuity of H4 barriers. Meanwhile, thanks to its W2 working width, SMA says that Titanus is ideal for areas characterised by a reduced length opening section.

The full system length is 40m with pole spacings of 1.5m. As well, the gate is light-weight, making it suitable for installation on bridges and viaducts, all without increasing drastically the loads on the bridge’s decks.

The new Titanus CE certified system is supplied in pre-assembled modules of 6m and is adaptable to different lengths. The gate can be opened in only two minutes and acts as an element of continuity between steel or concrete barriers through a suitable transition element. It is tested for containment level class H4b with an integrated sliding module in accordance with ENV 1317-4:2003.

Installation of the system requires only positioning and anchoring to the ground which takes place by means of internally threaded sleeves on which the pole plate is screwed. The connection of the terminal elements to the traffic barrier is done using adjustable connection pieces in order to correct the distance from the barrier during installation.

Finally, the gate can be swung fully open for the system’s entire length thanks to a series of small convenient dolly wheels on the lower half of the assembly.

“If a barrier gate exceeds 40m in length, it must be tested according to part 2 of EN 1317 as a longitudinal barrier,” explained  Mauro Corsanici, crash analyst with SMA Road Sasfety. “But if it has a shorter length, it is treated as a transition, according to the voluntary norm EN 1317 part 4. For transitions, however, the standard says that interconnections with gaps greater than one class must be avoided, namely an H4b barrier must be connected with an H3 barrier gate and not H2.”

Finding a practical solution is hard but the Titanus fits the bill – and the regulations, he says. The Titanus is manufactured at SMA Road Safety’s factory located in Marcianise, just north of Naples, Italy.

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The Mersey Gateway bridge project continues on schedule
    October 18, 2016
    Work continues on the 2.3km Mersey Gateway signature bridge project close to Liverpool in the UK. David Arminas reports on some of the construction highlights. Under construction is a cable-stayed structure with three towers that will span the Mersey River’s expansive mud flats between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes near Liverpool. Including the approach viaducts on each side, it will be 2.3km long with a river span of 1km. The main bridge deck will be reinforced concrete. The 80m-high central tower will b
    Read More
  • Barrier innovations making roads safer
    February 21, 2013
    Developments in barrier technology continue to make roads safer for drivers - Mike Woof writes. Innovative new barrier technology is helping make roads safer for drivers. Key developments have been made in barrier design, helping ensure road and highway infrastructure is more passively safe. New barrier designs ensure that errant vehicles are redirected into the roadway, with reduced risks for occupants and also other road users. Continuously slipformed concrete barriers reinforced with steel are now widely
    Read More
  • Tertu’s T40 guardrail passes Chinese certification
    April 19, 2018
    Tertu reports that its T40 guardrail is the first European steel-backed timber safety barrier to be certified to Chinese standard JTG B05-01 -2013 (level A) The T40 barrier recently passed a crash-test programme at the Beijing Shenhuada laboratory. This certification is an essential step for the development of the company’s business in China, according to the French manufacturer, which will be at Intertraffic in Amsterdam this month. The barrier system consists of two half-logs 22cm in diameter and ei
    Read More
  • Improve highway barriers to cope with higher speed
    February 24, 2012
    The UK association Britpave, the British In-situ Concrete Paving Association group, is keen to ensure that the country’s major highways will be able to cope with proposed speed limit increases. According to Britpave much of the UK motorway central reservation barriers may not be fit-for-purpose if the speed limit is increased from112-128km/h (70-80mph) as proposed recently.
    Read More

Highlighted Content