Mostly—it’s invisible, part of the Southern California highway landscape, much like bumper stickers and lane changes without turn signals—but if you begin to look, K-Rail seems to be everywhere.
The portable concrete barriers are particularly important to the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, as it redirects traffic around reconfigured lanes and ramps and preparations to demolish the Sunset Bl, Skirball Center Dr and Mulholland Dr bridges.
Even though K-Rail has been used on California highways since the early 1970s, moving the 20-foot-long pieces to the correct place, as the photographs below describe, still requires care and teamwork. After all, K-Rail might resemble building blocks, but each one weighs an average of 3.9 tons or 7,800 pounds, according to Steven Zaw, a Caltrans segment resident engineer on the I-405 project.
K-Rail has an alternative name on the East Coast, where it is called “Jersey Rail,” but Caltrans refers to it as “Temporary Railing (Type-K).” By any name, the portable barriers save lives as they segregate traffic.
A worker monitors the barrier clamp (or barrier picker) as it holds
a temporary railing.
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A worker applies adhesive which will hold a reflector to the barrier. A metal pin
will connect the K-Rail pieces together. For some highway locations the K-Rail
is anchored to the ground as well.
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Workers install a reflector, called a Type-P marker, on the traffic side of
the K-Rail. The reflectors are typically used where there is a kink in the
alignment of the barriers. The white and orange scheme is commonly
used in construction zones.
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The round holes in the K-Rail, called lifting holes, offer one option for lifting
the barriers with K-Rail hooks.
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Workers install the pins that hold two pieces of K-Rail together.
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Workers offload yellow crash cushions. The number of crash cushions and
their configuration at a location depends on the speed and direction of traffic.
The cushions are filled with various amounts of sand, with the first barrels facing
traffic having less sand than later barrels.
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Ned Racine
Keywords:
I-405,
Last Revised:
Friday February 17, 2012
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Community Relations Team:
Kasey Shuda -Wilshire Segment (National Bl to Waterford St)
Tel: 310.846.3563
Olga N. Arroyo - Sunset Segment (Waterford St to Sepulveda Bl)
Tel: 310.846.2357
Ron Macias - Mulholland Segment (Sepulveda Bl to Ventura Bl)
Tel: 310.846.3564
Ned Racine - New Media
Tel: 310.846.3569
Yvette ZR Rapose - Director of Construction Relations
Tel: 213.922.2297
Contact Information:
Metro Community Relations
6060 Center Dr, 2nd Fl
Los Angeles, CA 90045-2952
Tel: 213.922.3665
I405@metro.net
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 - Wilshire Bl Ramps Reconstruction
- Status: Construction of the Wilshire on- and off-ramps is anticipated to begin in the Second Quarter 2012.
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