At the dangerous location of Limanakia, a vehicle interception system has been installed, providing one of the highest levels of road safety.
Every day after sunset, the area turns into a race track, where dozens of people make appointments to demonstrate their driving prowess (read: recklessness). Drivers organize races without caring at all that they endanger not only themselves, but also hundreds of their fellow citizens and road users.
It is not uncommon for extreme driving enthusiasts to lose control of their vehicle, causing them to fall off a cliff, suffering serious injuries (sometimes fatal). The point where several accidents have been recorded is the height of the Lefteris snack bar (καντίνας “Λευτέρης”, 2ο λιμανάκι).
The blood that soaked the asphalt at the site did not go unnoticed by Attica’s regional authorities, who recently began installing the new type of precast concrete parapets “New Jersey”.
Mr. Michalis Anthopoulos, civil engineer from the Attica Region Urban Infrastructure Authority, provided details about a new vehicle interception system. According to the expert, the installation of the New Jersey type vehicle interception system in Limanakia comes in the context of the Attica region’s ongoing efforts to improve road safety and is the “second measure in a row” to prevent road accidents.
On the right side of the highway, until 2018, there was an old type (not certified) metal parapet, which, combined with omissions in construction, turned out to be insufficient to hold back vehicles “flying into the abyss.”
In 2018, following the introduction of the European standard EN-1317 in our country through the Guidelines for the Study of Road Projects for Vehicle Restraint Systems (VSRS), the Attica region decided modernize an inadequate old type safety barrier using a “restraint system” according to EN-1317-2 with characteristics H2.W3.A.
The system, as Mr. Anthopoulos notes, has proven to be very effective in practice and has significantly improved road safety. However, the parapet received many blows and therefore needed restoration. The dozens of blows that the “metal interception system” received over five years and the subsequent need for its constant maintenance in conditions of limited resources led to the installation new system of anchor precast reinforced concrete elements of the “New Jersey” type.
The installation of the vehicle interception system that currently exists at the site was carried out within the framework of the contract “Rehabilitation of damaged and expansion of security parapets in the networks of the Attica region”, with a budget of 4,000,000 euros. New Jersey anchor elements, with internal longitudinal reinforcement and locking devices, form an unbreakable chain that has successfully passed the necessary crash tests.
The anchoring was carried out on a reinforced concrete platform measuring 80×60 cm. The system provides one of the highest levels of road safety with H2.W2.B characteristics, is widely used in the USA and requires minimal maintenance.
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