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(gentle music)
(air whooshes)

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- [Narrator] They are one of
the most recognizable parts

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of construction on Texas highways.

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Portable concrete barriers,
or PCBs, are designed

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to protect workers and
drivers in construction zones.

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Damage to PCBs can shorten
their life expectancy.

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Cracks and chipping can occur
when struck by a vehicle,

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that can also happen

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while being stored or in
transit to a location.

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Defining the service
life of PCBs is important

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to reducing the risk of
unsafe barriers in use.

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The Texas Department of Transportation

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and the Texas A & M
Transportation Institute

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are working to develop best
practices for the management

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of repairing or replacing PCB segments.

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- The problem with
concrete barrier is that

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up to the point of this research,

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there were no really federal guidelines

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that would suggest, or
state guidelines for Texas

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that would suggest what
is the service life

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for these barriers.

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- So what this project does,

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it will help the districts
and the maintenance crews

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determine when a particular
concrete traffic barrier

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is acceptable after use or after impact,

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or whether it can be repaired,

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or whether it needs to be discarded.

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- So we went and reviewed
the existing literature.

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We look at the state
practices from other DOTs,

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but that wasn't enough.

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We wanted to specifically look

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at the barriers that TxDOT is using,

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the portable concrete barrier
segments that TxDOT is using,

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and we wanted to make sure
of these existing literature,

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the state of practice from other states

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complementing them with
the component testing,

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computer simulations to predict behaviors

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and the full scale crash testing.

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Barriers that we identified
that would help us

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make any decision with these guidelines.

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- We determine our
critical type of connection

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between the precast
barriers and, you know,

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what type of deformation we
thought would be acceptable

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within that particular connection type.

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That was probably one of the
more critical aspects of this.

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- The nice thing is that we
do conduct a lot of testing

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with portable concrete barriers,
different type of barriers

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but, you know, portable concrete barriers.

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So we have experience
from that perspective.

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We were able to go and
review all the crash testing

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that we conducted,

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understanding what were the
damage modes, number one,

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and what were the type of damage mode

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that the characteristics that
we identified in testing.

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We also look at locations
that we could visit

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to review these portable
concrete barrier segments

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as they actually were
used on the roadways.

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And we use all that
information when we finally

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make our decision on how to
proceed with the testing.

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- The results of this
research will be incorporated

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into guidance for the
maintenance districts

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and the 25 districts around the state.

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So the districts now
have a much better idea

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and guidelines as to,
"Okay, what do I need to do

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to make sure this barrier
is safe to put out

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on the Texas roadways?"

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- The results of this project is actually

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a visual guideline that we developed.

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This visual guideline
is supposed to support

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the engineer in charge to make a decision

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whether the barrier segments
needs to be replaced

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and needs to be repaired,
or are still fine for use

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which is going to be
hopefully make it easier

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to the engineer in charge
to make that determination.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publications
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.