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                Safety Eligibility Letter B-88E
  
  **Hardware Type:**
            Longitudinal Barriers and Bridge Rails
                          **Code:**
            B-88E
                          **Date:**
            07/31/2007
                          **Testing Criteria:**
            NCHRP 350
                          **Manufacturer:**
            Safence
                          **Device Description:**
            TL-4 four cable tensioned barrier
                          **View PDF:**
            b88e.pdf (728.94 KB)
    
    HSSD-10/B-88E



DOT logo
U.S. Department of Transportation
**Federal Highway Administration**
400 Seventh St., S.W.
Washington, D.C.  20590July 31, 2007
In Reply Refer To:  
HSSD-10/B-88E

Mr. Michael Kempen
Vice President
Safence Inc.
46-04 245th Street 
Douglaston, NY 11362
	
Dear Mr. Kempen:
Thank you for your letter requesting the Federal Highway  Administration’s (FHWA) acceptance of your company’s four-cable tensioned  barrier as a Test Level 4 device for use on the National Highway System  (NHS). Accompanying your letter was a  report of crash testing conducted by the Swedish Verg Traffik Institute and a  consultant review of the system. You  requested that we find this device acceptable for use on the NHS under the  provisions of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350 “Recommended  Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features.”
**Introduction**
  The FHWA guidance on crash testing of roadside safety  hardware is contained in a memorandum dated July 25, 1997, titled “INFORMATION:  Identifying Acceptable Highway Safety Features.”
**Testing**
  Full-scale automobile, pickup, and single-unit truck testing  has been conducted on your Safence cable barrier systems leading to the  following FHWA Acceptance Letters:
FHWA#
    Date
    NCHRP
    Cables
    Name
    
    
    Spacing
    DeflectionB-88
    7/13/01
    TL-3
    4
    
    Roadside
    Driven    elliptical posts
    2.5
    1.8B-88A
    1/28/04
    TL-3
    4
    3504RI
    Median
    Driven I    posts
    2.5
    2.7B-88B
    6/8/04
    TL-3
    4
    
    
    Concrete    footers
    2 to 3
    1.9 to 2.5B-88C
    5/26/05
    TL-3
    4
    
    Roadside
    Allow    "C" posts
    ?
    ?B-88D
    12/27/06
    TL-4
    3
    3RC
    
    Modified    C posts
    10 m
    3.7Cable heights in these systems are as follows:
height 1
    height 2
    height 3
    height 4
    NameB-88
    7/13/2001
    TL-3
    480
    630
    780
    930B-88A
    1/28/2004
    TL-3
    480
    560
    640
    720
    3504RIB-88B
    6/8/2004
    TL-3
    480
    560
    640
    720B-88C
    5/26/2005
    TL-3
    480
    630
    780
    930B-88D
    12/27/2006
    TL-4
    480
    640
    720
    (none)
    3RCB-88E
    This    Letter
    TL-4
    480
    560
    640
    720**Findings**
  Your present request builds on prior testing of the 4-cable  Safence systems to Test Level 3 and testing of the 3-Cable “3RC” system to Test  Level 4. We concur that the addition of the fourth cable to the “3RC” system  will have no adverse effect on the performance of this Test Level 4 barrier.  The fourth cable is anchored with its own connection to the concrete terminal  block.
Therefore, the Safence 4 cable system described above and  detailed in the enclosed drawings is acceptable for use on the NHS under the  range of conditions tested, when proposed by a State.
Other details of this system include:
Posts may be driven or placed in concrete footings. 
  Steel used in the 1230 mm long posts is ASTM A1011 HSLAS  Grade 50
  Cable tension at 100 F installation temperature is to be  1750 foot-pounds
  Dynamic deflection of the system is 2.2  meters with the 8000S single-unit truck and 2.1 meters  with the 2000P pickup truck.
Please note the following standard provisions that apply to  FHWA letters of acceptance:
This acceptance is limited to the  crashworthiness characteristics of the device.
  Any changes that may adversely influence the  crashworthiness of the device will require a new acceptance letter.
  Should the FHWA discover that the qualification  testing was flawed, that in-service performance reveals unacceptable safety  problems, or that the device being marketed is significantly different from the  version that was crash tested, it reserves the right to modify or revoke its  acceptance.
  You will be expected to supply potential users  with sufficient information on design and installation requirements to ensure  proper performance.
  You will be expected to certify to potential  users that the hardware furnished has essentially the same chemistry,  mechanical properties, and geometry as that submitted for acceptance, and that  they will meet the crashworthiness requirements of the FHWA and the NCHRP  Report 350.
  To prevent misunderstanding by others, this  letter of acceptance, designated as number B-88E shall not be reproduced except in  full. This letter, and the test  documentation upon which this letter is based, is public information. All such letters and documentation may be  reviewed at our office upon request.
  Safence  is a patented product and considered proprietary. If proprietary devices are specified by a  highway agency for use on Federal-aid projects, except exempt, non-NHS  projects, they: (a) must be supplied through competitive bidding with equally  suitable unpatented items; (b) the  highway agency must certify that they are essential for synchronization with  the existing highway facilities or that no equally suitable alternative exists;  or (c) they must be used for research or for a distinctive type of construction  on relatively short sections of road for experimental purposes. Our regulations concerning proprietary  products are contained in Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Section  635.411.
  This acceptance letter shall not be construed as  authorization or consent by the FHWA to use, manufacture, or sell any patented  device for which the applicant is not the patent holder. The acceptance letter is limited to the  crashworthiness characteristics of the candidate device, and the FHWA is  neither prepared nor required to become involved in issues concerning patent  law. Patent issues, if any, are to be  resolved by the applicant.Sincerely yours,
        Signature of Mary McDonough
      **for:**George E.  Rice
        Acting  Director, Office of Safety Design
      Office  of Safety2 Enclosures U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

**Federal Highway Administration**

1200 NEW JERSEY AVENUE, SE

WASHINGTON, DC 20590

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