What's This Motorway Apparatus For?

AAndy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 21:05

What are these for, some kind of surveillance?

M4 , installed facing both directions on new concrete barrier. (dozens)

Haydn1971 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 21:36

For lane closures during maintenance... They are simply signs mounted to the top of the concrete barrier - safer than a man carrying a sign across 3/4 lanes

RichardA35 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 21:37

It's a lane closure sign that rotates into view when activated and doesn't need workers to be in the central reserve to activate it.
IIRC there was an HSE prohibition over walking signs across 4 lanes of traffic into the centre some years ago when M25 J12-15 was being widened and the wider adoption of these signs was one of the outcomes.

Johnathan404 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 21:42

I believe something similar is used nationwide in France?

AAndy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 21:48

Thanks Hayden & Richard.

Thats good... I take it they rotate automatically however, because they are fixed at one side can they rotate to advise for either carriageway when needed?

edit: of course they can as they are auto... doh!

Chris Bertram · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:52

Johnathan404 wrote:

I believe something similar is used nationwide in France?

I saw plenty of them on the A26 when in France a couple of years ago.

Jonathan24 · **Joined:** Thu Apr 28, 2011 19:45 **Posts:** 4

Surely these do a similar thing and are already installed on most motorways?

http://g.co/maps/weqzy

michael769 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2012 22:52

Jonathan24 wrote:

Surely these do a similar thing and are already installed on most motorways?

http://g.co/maps/weqzy

Problem is that after decades of showing spurious and inaccurate messages most motorists don't pay them any heed any more. The other problem is that they are useless in a power cut.

Johnathan404 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 25, 2012 14:06

I don't think that will be the reason for replacing them with something which, on the face of it, seems worse.

A better reason would be that the new signs are becoming standard because they can support D4M roads and above, and are perhaps better designed to work with the concrete barrier?

michael769 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 25, 2012 17:41

Johnathan404 wrote:

.

A better reason would be that the new signs are becoming standard because they can support D4M roads and above, and are perhaps better designed to work with the concrete barrier?

MS4 can also cope with D4M, and being mounted over the hard shoulder also do not have a problem with concrete barriers. Those signs are I suspect considerably cheaper than either MS4 or MS1.

Glen · **Posted:** Sun Mar 25, 2012 19:10

Jonathan24 wrote:

Surely these do a similar thing and are already installed on most motorways?

http://g.co/maps/weqzy

No, because the MS1 signals are for displaying emergency warnings of lanes closed or obstructed, not for displaying signs to form part of a temporary traffic management system, modern two-colour LED signals would be needed to display the relevant symbols and also at a much greater frequency than the normal signals. In other words, vastly more expensive.

These signs are simply a fixed sign panel with a roller blind in front of them.

This is the portable version of the same thing:

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roller blind sign open.jpg [ 173.14 KiB | Viewed 622 times ]

What's This Motorway Apparatus For?

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