AN EVALUATION OF SELECTED TRUCK MOUNTED ATTENUATORS (TMA'S) WITH RECOMMENDED PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS. FINAL REPORT

In June of 1989, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) contracted with the texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to develop a set of performance specifications for truck mounted attenuators (TMA's). The objectives of this project were to (1) assess the performance of several truck mounted attenuators and then (2) develop and propose the criteria that define an "acceptable" TMA. These criteria will be used by the Equipment and Procurement Division (D-4) of the Texas Department of Transportation in setting minimum performance requirements for TMA's purchased by the Department. This report is the first of three volumes. The purpose of this report is to detail the work conducted during the course of the study, and to present the study findings, conclusions and recommendations. More specifically, this volume provides an overview of the study, along with the results obtained during crash, vibration and moisture tests on seven different makes and models of TMA's. Comparisons are drawn between the different attenuators that were tested, and a set of performance specifications for TMA certification is proposed.