Flexgantry A10 accidental damage

Country: Austria
Product: Flexgantry on Gantrybase 

Safety from flexibility

In an accident on the A10 motorway, the articulated sign bridge averted the worst when a semitrailer demolished the concrete central guide wall across a length of 150 metres. The truck was a total write-off but the driver remained unharmed.

The spectacular crash occurred on the Tauern Motorway (A10) next to Golling/Salzburg. The load on the truck had come unstuck, causing the vehicle to skid and crash into the concrete wall between the two lanes. The wall was severely damaged for a length of about 150 metres, but the gantry, mounted on a concrete retention system, survived the crash almost unharmed.

How was that possible?
It was a Flexgantry design.

Little damage

This accident serves to demonstrate the safety and economic advantages of the Flexgantry model. With no rigid obstacles in the central reservation no humans were hurt and the construction itself suffered only minimal damage. Another crucial advantage was that the motorway could be immediately returned to normal operation as the traffic control system continued to work throughout this section of the A10.

Quick repair 

Another difference between standard road sign gantries and Flexgantries is in the scope of repair works after an accident. A traditional gantry would probably have required a new central post, possibly also a new beam. Flexgantry called for some minor works only: replacing some of the threaded assemblies, repairing the anti-corrosion paint at the front A-post, and exchanging the gantrybase joining element due to chipped concrete.