Temporary road barriers in California will be significantly changing over the next two years. On November 22nd, at the Caltrans District 4 Construction Industry Liaison Meeting, a presentation was made that detailed the specifications, plan sheets for non-proprietary barriers, a list of proprietary barriers, and links to relevant YouTube videos. Here are some key points from the presentation and links to where you can learn more.

The Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Requirements
To reduce price and supply shocks from removing the 2.7 million feet of k-rail that Caltrans advertises yearly, Caltrans HQ Construction has mandated the use of MASH-compliant Temporary Barrier Systems (MASH TBS) on select projects for the fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Fiscal Years (FYs) start on July 1st.

Contractors will be required to use these new design barriers, first on the targeted projects over the next two years, then on all projects. The Precast Industry is currently gearing up to manufacture to the new designs.

Based on current Caltrans guidance, only MASH-compliant barriers will be allowed on projects advertised after December 31, 2026.

MASH-Compliant TBS Project Targets
Above are the 2025/2026 targets for all Caltrans Districts, with D4 highlighted in this presentation.

For more information, please access the Caltrans MASH Implementation page at:
https://dot.ca.gov/programs/safety-programs/mash

Additional details can be found at:
https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/safety-programs/documents/safety-devices/tssg-supplement-temp-barrier-4-20-2022-a11y.pdf

Here are links to videos of Caltrans-Authorized MASH Temporary Barrier Systems.

Defender (Safe Barriers) Steel Barrier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrpJjn41AQU

HighwayGuard (Valtir LLC) Steel Barrier with T Connection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSFBuOQHDQ4

ZoneGuard (Hill & Smith Inc.) Steel Barrier

HV2 (Saferoads) Concrete-Filled Steel Barrier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbq1YxWF8Ks&t=4s

QuickCharge Movable Barrier Concrete (Lindsay Trans.) Movable Steel & Concrete Barrier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEsRNJA_oGI

J-J Hooks (Easi-Set Worldwide) Concrete Barrier with “J” Connection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opzx6hMMgIs

Big thanks and a tip of the hard hat go out to Mohan Bonala, Chief, Office of Contract Administration at Caltrans for all of his generous assistance with this article, along with Paul Heis of Master Builders Solutions for his illumination of the coming changes.