July 6, 2001 Refer to: HSA-10/B87 Mr. James R. Keaton Vice President of Sales and Marketing Barrier Systems, Inc. 180 River Road Rio Vista, California 94571-1208 Dear Mr. Keaton: In your June 22 letter, you requested the Federal Highway Administration's acceptance of your company's SafeGuard Gate System as meeting the requirements for a test level 3 (TL-3) longitudinal barrier under the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350. To support this request, you also sent me copies of Safe Technologies, Inc. June 22, 2001 report entitled "NCHRP Report 350 Crash Test Results for SafeGuard Gate System," video tapes of the crash tests you conducted, and CD-ROMS containing test data for each of the crash tests. The SafeGuard Gate System (SGS) is a steel barrier specifically designed to span a permanent opening in a concrete median barrier ranging from 8 meters long to 16 meters long. The typical length of each gate section is 4 m and the effective overall height is 829 mm. The SGS is 700-mm wide at its base and 513-mm wide at the top. Each 4-m section weighs approximately 675 kg. Hinge assemblies at the ends of each unit and compressed air-activated, retractable wheels on each unit allow the SGS to be disconnected from the rigid barrier after removal of the aluminum cover plate and the 28.6-mm diameter ASTM C1018 steel connecting pin. The SGS can then be swung open from one end or completely removed to allow passage of vehicles. One or two persons can accomplish this process manually in five minutes or less. Enclosure 1 shows some of the design details for the SGS. Tests were conducted with an 820-kg vehicle at a 20-degree impact angle and with the 2000-kg pickup truck at 25 degrees. Both tests were run at the NCHRP Report 350 test level 3 (TL-3) speed of 100 km/h. Two critical impact point tests were also conducted with the pickup truck: one to test the hinge assembly in a 12-m span and one to test the SGS-to-concrete barrier transition in an 8-m span. One additional test was run with an 820-kg vehicle at the TL-2 speed of 70 km/h to confirm acceptable low-speed performance. Maximum dynamic deflection noted in the length of need truck test into a 12-m long SGS was 570 mm. Summary reports for each of the four TL-3 tests are included in Enclosure 2. Based on staff review of the information you provided and its recommendations, I find the SafeGuard Gate System to be acceptable for use on the National Highway System (NHS) as an NCHRP Report 350 TL-3 device to close permanent openings from 8 to 16 meters in length in a rigid concrete barrier. Since the SGS is a proprietary device, its use on Federal-aid projects, except exempt, non-NHS projects, is subject to the conditions listed in Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 635.411. Please do not hesitate to call Mr. Richard Powers at (202) 366-1320 if you have any questions regarding this acceptance letter. Sincerely yours, (original signed by Frederick G. Wright, Jr.) Frederick G. Wright, Jr. Program Manager, Safety 2 Enclosures