1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to median walls which are mounted to median lines of roads to divide the roads according to the direction of vehicles traveling on the road, thus preventing the vehicles from crossing over the median line and, more particularly, to a prefabricated road median wall which is continuously erected along a median line of a road and consists of a plurality of unit blocks each having a predetermined size, so that the unit blocks are easily assembled at a construction site, thereby moving and handling the road median wall is easy, and which has superior strength and elasticity, thus efficiently absorbing impact caused by colliding vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, various traffic sign boards for safe driving of vehicles and safety facilities to mitigate emergencies such as car accidents are installed alongside roads. A guard rail is a representative example of such a safety facility. Guard rails are provided along opposite sides and a median line of a road to prevent vehicles traveling on the road from leaving the road or crossing over the median line of the road into the opposite lane. Here, a guard rail installed on the median line of the road to divide the road into two sections according to the direction of travel is called a median wall.
Such a median wall is installed on a road having four or more lanes to prevent a vehicle traveling at high speed from crossing over the median line and colliding with a vehicle traveling in the opposite lane. According to the condition and type of road and geographical features, the median walls are classified into a flower garden type, an iron fence type and a block type.
Particularly, on highways, the maximum speed is relatively high and vehicle U-turns are prohibited. Therefore, an iron fence and a concrete block are used as a median wall for highways to clearly divide the road into two sections and prevent a vehicle from crossing over into an opposite lane of the road even if the vehicle collides with the median wall or other vehicles.
Conventional median walls including the iron fences or the concrete blocks have high strength, but have poor elasticity. Therefore, when a vehicle collides with the median wall, the vehicle is seriously damaged and occupants may be fatally injured due to the impact of the collision. Furthermore, the conventional median walls are problematic in that the construction of the median walls is very complex, and it takes a long period of time to construct the median walls.
In an effort to overcome the above-mentioned problems, a median wall, which is formed using a high-strength synthetic resin in a predetermined shape and is filled with water, was proposed. However, water filling the median wall freezes throughout the winter. Thus, there is a problem in that the median wall having the frozen water is easily broken even when a vehicle collides into the wall at a low speed.
Furthermore, a median wall, which is integrally manufactured by mixing reused rubber powder, an FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) and rubble stones and is mounted to a road using anchor posts, was proposed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 0216852, which was filed by the inventor of the present invention. This median wall has sufficient strength and elasticity, thus preventing a vehicle from crossing over a median line of a road, and absorbing the impact caused by a collision with a vehicle, thereby preventing damage to the vehicle, and preventing the occupants from being injured. However, because the median wall of No. 0216852 is formed as a single body, the weight of the median wall is several hundreds kilograms. Therefore, there are difficulties in carrying and handling the median wall.
In particular, because conventional median walls are integrated as single bodies, in the event that an old road is resurfaced with asphalt concrete (ascon), the height of a median wall mounted to the resurfaced part of the road becomes lower than other median walls by the difference in height between the original road and the resurfaced road. Thus, the desired function of the median wall may be not achieved.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds