CMTI headquartered in Rockledge Florida recently completed installations of the Delta Crash Cushion along the I-95 corridor in various locations within Brevard, Volusia and Flagler counties. The safety improvements were part of an ongoing contract for the Florida Department of Transportation and included highway improvements as well as the installation of Crash Attenuators to protect fixed roadside obstacles and highway guardrail.
CMTI chose the Delta Crash Cushion largely due to the efficient installation process which results in lower costs for the contractor and the DOT. CMTI installation crews report “we have installed numerous attenuators and the Delta is by far the easiest and most cost-effective”.
Crash cushions are maintained and repaired by both DOT maintenance crews or contractors who have been awarded maintenance contracts. These operations include the repair of guardrail and crash cushions that have been impacted by vehicles. The safety of all highway contractors and maintenance crews is always a concern. Reducing the time on the roadway also reduces the potential exposure to maintenance or contractor crews, CMTI states “the Delta is easier to repair and allows us to get off the roadway quicker”.
The development of the Delta Crash Cushion was a 6-year partnership between TrafFix Devices Inc. of San Clemente CA and the University of Nebraska – Lincoln Midwest Roadside Safety Facility resulting in an innovate crash attenuator design that is being utilized across the country.
The creative design elements resulted in a system that is simple to install and requires minimal maintenance. Crash Cushions or Attenuators are utilized to protect vehicles from impacting blunt ends of concrete median barrier, bridge railing and highway guardrail. All attenuator systems are required to pass a stringent series of crash tests before they can be approved for use on public roadways. One of the major challenges of designing an attenuator system is to assure it performs effectively with small and midsize cars as well as heavy trucks while maintaining simple design elements.
Mike Caffery and Daniel Weyh with Florida Delta distributor Striping Service and Supply worked in partnership on sales and support of the Florida DOT installations conducting onsite training and supervision. CMTI reports that the Delta systems are “performing perfectly saving lives and reducing repair time for their crews”.
