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March 10, 2006
Refer to: HSA-10/CC-26I/CC-87A
Mr. Barry D. Stephens, P.E.
Senior Vice President of Engineering
Energy Absorption Systems, Incorporated
3617 Cincinnati Avenue
Rocklin, CA 95765
Dear Mr. Stephens:
On November 1, 2004, I accepted your Drivable Pile Anchor (DPA) system with the QuadGuard on a steel plate for use in work zones with acceptance letter CC-35G. In late January of this year, you hand-carried a letter dated January 5, 2006, to staff members at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting. In that letter, you requested formal Federal Highway Administration acceptance to use the same anchoring system on your REACT-350 (CC-26) and QUEST (CC-87) crash cushions when installed temporarily on soil.
The DPA System consists of 152 mm x 152 mm x 6.35 mm square steel tubes driven 1848 mm deep into a strong soil through square holes in wing plates. These steel tubes are then capped with a 254 mm x 254 mm x 19 mm steel plates using four 19-mm long Grade 8 bolts. The REACT-350 requires front, middle and rear wing plates measuring 1930-mm long x 432-mm wide x 9.5-mm thick, 1849-mm long x 582-mm wide x 9.5-mm thick, and 1849-mm long x 908-mm wide x 9.5-mm thick, respectively. These plates are bolted underneath the REACT's front cable anchor plates, the basetrack connection point, and the backup using sixteen, ten, and twenty-four 19-mm long Grade 5 bolts, respectively. The QUEST requires wing plates in the front and back measuring 1629-mm long x 457-mm wide x 9.5-mm thick and 1778-mm long x 749-mm wide x 9.5-mm thick, respectively. These plates are bolted underneath the QUEST's front anchor and backup using sixteen and twenty-two 19-mm long Grade 5 bolts, respectively. Enclosures 1 and 2 show these details.
Based on the high-speed testing you conducted on the QuadGuard with the DPA system, I agree that additional testing is not needed when the DPA anchor designs/layouts described above are used with the QUEST and REACT-350. Both designs may be considered to meet the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 350 evaluation criteria at test level 3 and used on the National Highway System when such use is acceptable to the contracting authority.
Sincerely yours,
/original signed by/
John R. Baxter, P.E.
Director, Office of Safety Design
Office of Safety
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