Jersey barriers near JD Vance's Alexandria home become chalk graffiti shrine

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Because ...

Jersey barrier

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Development and use


42-inch (110 cm)-high variation of the Jersey barrier
known as an Ontario Tall Wall, used to deflect vehicles
from crossing into the opposing lanes of traffic

Although it is not clear exactly when or where the first concrete median barriers were used, concrete median barriers were used in the mid-1940s on U.S. Route 99 on the descent from the Tehachapi Mountains in the Central Valley south of Bakersfield, California. This first generation of concrete barriers was developed to (a) minimize the number of out-of-control trucks penetrating the barrier, and (b) eliminate the need for costly and dangerous median barrier maintenance in high-accident locations with narrow medians – concerns that are as valid today as they were 80 years ago.

The Jersey barrier, also called New Jersey wall, was developed in the 1950s (introduced in current form in 1959), at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, United States, under the direction of the New Jersey State Highway Department to divide multiple lanes on a highway. A typical Jersey barrier stands 32 inches (81 cm) tall and is made of steel-reinforced poured concrete or plastic. Many are constructed with the embedded steel reinforcement protruding from each end, allowing them to be incorporated into permanent emplacements when linked to one another by sections of fresh concrete poured on-site.

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