BREAK-AWAY ROADSIDE SIGN SUPPORT STRUCTURES

THE BASIC CONCEPT OF THE BREAK-AWAY SIGN SUPPORT IS TO PROVIDE A STRUCTURE THAT WILL RESIST WIND LOADS YET FAIL, AT PRESELECTED LOCATIONS, WHEN STRUCK BY A VEHICLE. WITH THREE PROPERLY DESIGNED CONNECTIONS AT CRITICAL LOCATIONS THE SUPPORT WILL BE STABLE AND WILL POSSESS THE BREAK-AWAY CHARACTERISTICS WHEN STRUCK BY A VEHICLE. THE MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR THE DESIGN OF SAFE BREAK-AWAY CANTILEVER SUPPORTS. EMPHASIS WAS PLACED ON DEVELOPING DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE THREE CRITICAL CONNECTIONS. THE INFORMATION WAS DEVELOPED THROUGH LABORATORY TESTS AND THE USE OF A MATHEMATICAL MODEL AND CONFIRMED THROUGH FULL-SCALE CRASH TESTS AND INDICATIONS OF IN-SERVICE PERFORMANCE FROM ACCIDENT RECORDS. ALTERNATIVE TYPES OF ROADSIDE SIGN SUPPORTS WERE SUBJECTED TO FULL-SCALE CRASH TESTS TO DETERMINE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS. /BPR/