CrocGuard® Bridge Barrier, the latest development from Safe Direction, can span across bridges up to 16m without any posts on the bridge structure. CrocGuard is purposefully designed for application over weak timber deck bridges, shallow fill culverts or applications where underground infrastructure prevents installation of posts.
Hayden Wallace, Safe Direction Managing Director, said asset owners of timber deck bridges have been caught with the conundrum of having to replace non-compliant bridge barriers but until now have not had any viable solution other than complete bridge replacement. CrocGuard provides an Australian Standard (AS5100) compliant bridge barrier solution for “Regular Level” bridges where no other products are available. Essentially CrocGuard delivers the safety outcome and extends the useful life of expensive public infrastructure.
Old bridges often have narrow lane widths that are the cause of dangerous centre line crowding and risk for head-on impacts. CrocGuard provides a solution that can optimise the lane width of existing structures by shifting the face of barrier alignment to the edge of the bridge giving back greater lane width to motorists, Wallace said.
CrocGuard also eliminates any hydraulic load to the bridge from the barrier system during overtopping flood events – Wallace said that this is a major benefit to low set bridges and will provide asset owners with peace of mind about the longevity of their bridge assets.