Article Read TimeWhether it’s for crowd control at a large event or to improve safety on a construction site, there are a range of barricades available to help keep people safe. But what is a barricade, what are the different types of barricades that are available, and are you required to use specific types of barricades for your purpose? In this article, we’ll discuss all these questions and many more, giving you a solid view of how to use what type of barricade effectively.
From accident scenes and outdoor events to road barricades and construction zone demarcation, barricades are devices that serve a range of uses, specifically in the channeling of vehicle and pedestrian traffic to safer locations while construction or unusual events are underway. This is achieved by creating a physical barrier for a road closing, traffic control, inclement weather, oncoming traffic, or other issues. They can come in a range of different formats, from a reflective rail to a Jersey barrier placed on flat surfaces and plastic barricades to crowd control barricades.
As mentioned above, the key use of barricades is to improve safety for specific needs during a range of operations, including road construction, heavy equipment usage, pedestrian traffic control, and similar areas of concern. By creating physical traffic barriers with these devices, the foot and vehicle flow of traffic is rerouted to a safer area, preventing injuries and accidents that could have been avoided. For this reason, barricades will often have a combination of bright and light colors, such as orange and white, in addition to lights, reflectors, and similar items to increase visibility.
Barricades are used for a wide range of uses. They are common in road construction and construction sites, and are often used for crowd control barriers for large events and at accident scenes to contain the flow of traffic. These physical barriers prevent people from accidentally wandering onto a construction site or into the wrong lane during road construction in situations where a sign could have been missed. By preventing these accidents, safety on the job site, in areas of road construction, and around events are improved.
There are three specific categories of barricades that you may run across. These include traffic barricades, construction barricades and pedestrian barricades. Let’s take a look at each of these three categories.
A traffic barricade will often have flat feet or a flared base to prevent tipping when bumped by vehicles, and often have a reflective panel to make the traffic barricade obvious to vehicle traffic. These barricades provide separation for the construction workers to work safely, especially on higher speed roads. This type of equipment can consist of steel barricades, metal barricades, plastic barrier protection, plastic jersey barrier options, or concrete, all of which are often painted or coated with a reflective surface for better visibility.
Construction barricades are used to limit access to certain areas on a construction site. This includes limiting traffic to sensitive areas, such as treelines, waterways and recently planted or sodded locations, as well as limiting access from unauthorized personnel to construction materials, tools, and equipment. However, there are three specific types of construction barricades you should be aware of, which we’ll discuss next.
By comparison, pedestrian barricades are used to limit the mixture of automotive and pedestrian traffic, and are commonly used around larger events. These barricades help to prevent accidents by limiting mixed traffic within specific zones. The most common type is a frame barricade or A-frame barricade, which consists of one or two boards perpendicular to a pair of A-shaped supports. They’ll often have orange and white stripes in a reflective sheeting to make them more obvious.
However, some large events call for other options that control pedestrian traffic as well, such as events with a large crowd or an exclusive event.. To prevent unpaid individuals from sneaking in, barricade fencing can be used to limit their access to the active concert or festival grounds..
Our pedestrian barricades are ADA compliant. We have a number of products that relate specifically to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and these products are preferred for the people with disabilities that this act protects. These ADA compliant pedestrian barricades include the Safety rail and trademarked SafetyWall, which has a continuous bottom with a gap of less than 2 inches between the barrier and the ground and smooth, continuous trailing top. We also supply temporary modular ramps and platforms which are 4 feet wide with a non-slip surface.
Barricade Fence can consist of a range of fencing panels to temporarily barricade a specific area. These engineer grade panels do a great job to limit traffic to specific areas, and are often used around construction sites, demolition sites, and large pay-to-enter events where controlling access protects profits.
Traffic Cones can be used to limit traffic, though their light weight and ease of placement means they can also be moved easily to allow for emergency traffic. Because of their easy, stackable storage and fast, light deployment, traffic cones continue to be a popular option for many organizations, serving a wide range of purposes.
Whether your company needs traffic barriers, construction site fences, pedestrian crowd control, or any of our many other offerings, National Capital Industries has what you need. In addition to our wide assortment of barriers for sale or rent, we also provide a wide range of other supplies for your business, including safety apparel, hand tools, fall protection, personal safety equipment, signage, lighting, pavement marking supplies and equipment, concrete and asphalt supplies, and general job site cleanup and material protection products.
With four convenient locations around the Washington, D.C., greater metropolitan area, you’ll always find a National Capital location convenient for your needs, and our over sixty years supporting contractors in the D.C. area means that we already know what you need for your next project. Please feel free to reach out to our team of experienced professionals today with any questions, for more details on our products or to get a quote on our wide range of road and general construction materials.
