Trans-Canada Highway

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Safety

Increased safety for motorists is the most important benefit of the completion of the four-lane Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick.

The construction of a four-lane divided highway virtually eliminates the possibility of head-on collisions, thereby greatly reducing the severity and frequency of collisions on high-speed, high-volume highways.

The four-lane Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick also has several enhancements that further increase highway safety. All of these enhancements were first introduced during the construction of the Fredericton-Moncton highway.

Rumble strips

Among the most obvious safety features of the highway are rumble strips installed just outside the driving lanes.

Rumble strips are a simple, cost-effective means of reducing single-vehicle accidents in which a car has left the road. Indentations are made outside the white edge line along the right side of the road, to alert drivers that they are driving on the shoulder.

Installing a rumble strip involves a rotary milling machine with a cutting head the same size as the length of the rumble strip. As the milling machine rolls down the road, the cutting head raises and drops, creating a groove each time it touches the pavement.

Energy-absorbing guide rail terminals

Energy-absorbing guide rail terminals are another important safety feature, as they absorb a vehicle's momentum, bringing it to a controlled stop.

These systems consist of a reusable extruder head attached to about 12 metres of guide rail supported by steel-hinged or wooden posts that give way on impact. When a vehicle strikes the extruder head, its momentum is decreased as the rail is bent and straightened away from the vehicle, and the posts are broken.

Studies of the terminals show a decrease in the amount of damage to vehicles as a result of the shock-absorbing effect, and by preventing the vehicle from being projected over the guide rail.

Clear zones

A clear zone provides 10 metres or more of hazard-free area from the white edge line when vehicles leave the road. Clear zones are carefully considered in the design of each structure, as care must be given to keeping piers and abutments outside the zone. In addition to giving drivers more room to manoeuvre in an accident, clear zones also reduce the tunnel effect when passing under a structure.

Ideally, a driver travelling along the four-lane Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick will never have need of a clear zone, but its presence can greatly reduce the severity of an accident.

Frangible bases

All sign posts and light standards within the clear zone have frangible bases. These bases are specially constructed so that the post will break and fall away from the vehicle on impact, reducing injuries to the vehicle's occupants, and damage to the vehicle.

Performance Level 3 barrier walls

Performance Level 3 barrier walls are used on bridges and overpasses, and are designed to prevent vehicles from overturning on impact. They can safely redirect tractor-trailers or other vehicles to the driving lane.

Made of high-performance concrete, Performance Level 3 barrier walls measure 1.05 metres and are the highest barrier walls available. They have been a requirement on all new overpasses and river crossings on four-lane highways in New Brunswick since 1997.

Median crossover foreslopes

Median crossovers are located along the corridor to allow maintenance and emergency vehicles to reverse direction.

To reduce the severity of collisions, the angle of median crossover foreslopes has been reduced when they are within 20 metres of the edge of the travelling lane.

Longitudinal culverts protection

Longitudinal culverts are oriented parallel to the main traffic flow. They are typically used under driveways, field entrances, access ramps, intersecting side roads and median crossovers.

Culvert slope protection is provided in the approach direction on all longitudinal culverts within 20 metres of the edge of the travelling lane. This consists of flattening the slope of the pipe face and grating to reduce the severity of collisions.

Rumble strips, energy-absorbing guide rail terminals, frangible bases, Performance Level 3 barrier walls, longitudinal pipes protection, and enhancements of median crossover foreslopes are also being incorporated on existing four-lane sections of the Trans-Canada Highway between Grand Falls and the Quebec border.