A method and modules for establishing road regulations.
The invention relates to a method of establishing road regulations such as chicanes, roundabouts and traffic islands.
The invention moreover relates to modules for road regulations such as chicanes, roundabouts and traffic islands.
It is known to establish road regulations such as e.g. chicanes, roundabouts and traffic islands, where these are typically built in advance of being mounted on the road surface. The known chicanes are built as permanent installations, attached to the underground, on which the road surface is also attached.
It has been found, however, that there are some drawbacks involved in the known road regulations.
It is in this way both time- and resource demanding to establish the known chicanes, which are typically built individually at a location, where they will afterwards be placed permanently.
The establishment of such road regulations on ongoing functioning road systems will often result in that the traffic must be strongly regulated in the period of the establishment, which can cause inconvenience for all the road users, who might have to pass by the area on a daily basis. Emergency vehicles must also usually reduce their speed in areas where road regulations are under construction, which can result in severe consequences, when there is e.g. ambulance callouts.
Road surfaces are worn out as a result of normal use and therefore a new wearing coat must be put on roads at regular intervals. Since the known
road regulations are build up with permanent fastening to the underground it is complicated and thus expensive and time-consuming to lay new road surfacing in areas with road regulations, which is obviously also a drawback of the known road regulations.
It is therefore a purpose of the invention to improve the known method of establishing road regulations and to improve road regulations.
The object of the invention is achieved by a method of the type stated in the introductory portion of claim 1 , which is characterized in that the road regulations are produced in modules, which are placed on the road.
Hereby, it is thus possible to establish road regulations faster, better and cheaper than with the previously known technique, which ensures a significantly shorter period of harassment of the drivers who have to drive through the area during the period of establishment as well as an increased financial gain. - - - - - - -
Since the modules are placed on the road surface it will in addition be relatively simple to remove them again, e.g. in connection with laying of a new wearing surface on the road, whereby also this process can be carried out far more quickly and thus cheaper than permanently built road regulations.
As stated in claim 2 it is furthermore a distinctive feature of the invention that the modules are fixed to the road surface in one or more points. It is hereby achieved that the modules can be fastened to the road surface if wanted or needed.
Further preferred embodiments of the method of the invention are defined in claims 3 through 5.
As mentioned, the invention also relates to modules for road regulation.
These modules are characterized in that the modules on the underside, which face the road are shaped with countersinks or holes.
Hereby it becomes possible to place the modules over fixtures in the road surface or to mount the fixture elements from the top of the modules when there are holes running through the whole module. The modules can in this way quickly be fastened in a road safe way as well as they can quickly be removed, e.g. in connection with renovation of the road surface.
Further preferred embodiments of the modules are defined in claim 7.
The invention will now be explained more fully with reference to the drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 shows a road regulation compound by three prefabricated modules.
Fig. 2 shows a road to which chicanes are intended added.
Fig. 3 shows the same road as fig. 2, but now with established module based chicanes.
Fig. 4 shows a sectional view of a module for road regulation supplied with countersinks in the bottom, which faces the road surface.
Fig. 5 shows a sectional view of a road surface with holes.
Fig. 6 shows a sectional view of a road surface with fixture elements placed in the holes shown in figure 5.
Fig. 7 shows a sectional view of a road regulation module placed on a road surface and controlled horizontally by two fixture elements.
Fig. 8 shows two examples of fixture elements for placement in road surface holes.
Fig. 9 shows a sectional view of a road regulation module placed on a road surface and controlled by two fixing elements, which can be inserted from the top of the module.
Fig. 10 shows in a sectional view a module placed on a road surface being fixed by two fixing elements inserted from the top of the module.
Fig. 11 shows a sectional view of a module placed on a road surface fastened to the road surface with two fixing elements, which have been screwed in from the top of the module, into a bush with a screw thread placed in the road surface:
In fig. 1 is shown an example of a road regulation, covered by the invention, which is a compound of three prefabricated modules 1 , 2 and 3.
The modules are supplied with holes 4 in the top, for insertion of the fixing elements 15, which, if used, have got the purpose of fastening the modules to the road surface.
The shown modules can quickly, efficiently and cheaply be placed on top of an existing road surface.
In fig. 2 a road distance 5 is shown, where it is decided to establish chicanes in order to reduce the speed of the traffic.
Fig. 3 shows how chicanes 6, compound of modules in relation to the invention, are placed on top of the existing road surface 5.
Since the establishment of chicanes, as shown in fig. 3, is based on placing prefabricated modules on top of the existing road surface the whole establishment process only takes a fraction of the time it would take to establish the chicanes with the previously known techniques.
Fig. 4 shows, in a sectional view, an elementary sketch of a preferred embodiment of a module 2 for road regulation, where the module in the bottom, which is going to be placed on a road, is supplied with countersinks 7, which are not visible from the outside, when the module is placed on the road.
In fig. 5 the cross section of a piece of a road is schematically shown with the surface 5, in which holes 8 have been made , which are geometrically equivalent to the location of the countersinks 7 in the module 2 shown in fig. 4.
In fig. 6 the holes in the road surface have been supplied with fixing elements 9, which can e.g. be bars or pipe sections of iron or steel alloys.
Fig. 7 shows the module 2, from fig. 4, placed on the road segment shown in fig. 6, so that the fixture elements 9 fill out the countersinks or holes shown in fig. 4, indicated by 7.
The fixture elements 9 will now fix the module 2 in the horizontal plane, which is normally what is required from a traffic safety aspect. In that connection it should be pointed out that the modules 2 will typically be cast of concrete and have an self-weight of several hundred kilos, whereby the self-weight of the modules in many cases will be sufficient to maintain the
modules in the vertical and horizontal plane.
Preferred embodiments of modules for road regulations manufactured and placed in relation to the principle shown in fig. 4 to 7 have got the advantage that fitting only requires making holes in the road, which can e.g. be drilled from jigs, which have got the same shape as the module, which is going to be placed on top of the holes. When the holes 8 are created, the fixing elements 9 can be placed in the holes, and the modules 2 can afterwards be placed over the fixing elements 9 directly on the road surface 5.
If removal of the modules 2 is desirable, e.g. because of renovation of the road surface 5 the modules 2 can be lifted up, which in practice can easily be carried out by using a so-cailed tile gripper mounted on a truck crane.
The fixing elements 9 can subsequently be pulled up from the holes 8 in the road and a new road surface can then be applied.
When the new road surface has been applied the road regulation can quickly and efficiently be re-established, obviously by reusing the hitherto used components.
Fig. 8 shows a couple of examples of fixing elements for hidden fixing of modules for road regulation. In fig. 8 a fixing element 10 is shown to the left, shaped with a collar in the top, which rests against the hole in the road surface 5, while a fixing element 10 is shown to the right, which is placed in a guide bush. Both of the shown examples of fixing elements have got the advantage that the top of the fixing elements are geometrically well-defined no matter how deep the hole is, in which they are placed, which makes it simple to manufacture the complementary countersinks in the modules, which are controlled by the fixing elements.
It will often be sufficient to control a module for road regulation with a single fixing element, but application of two or more fixing elements will obviously also be included in the present invention.
Fig. 9 shows in a cross section an elementary sketch of a preferred embodiment of the invention, where a module 2 is placed on a road 5, controlled by two fixing elements 9. The fixing elements can in the example shown in fig. 9 be inserted from the top of the module 2. Because the module 2 is supplied with transverse holes for insertion of fixing elements, the further advantage is achieved that the holes in the road for insertion of the fixing elements can be drilled from the top of the module 2. This means that the modules can be placed on the road surface without preceding boring-up of the guiding holes, which makes finding a location for the modules even easier.
In fig: 10 it is shown in a cross section how the fixing elements 12 can be manufactured so that the top of the fixing elements cover the holes in the module 2. The fixing elements 9 and 12 can be supplied with a device such as a hook in the top, so that they can easily be pulled up if the modules 2 are going to be demounted.
In the hitherto shown examples the fixing elements have primarily had the purpose of controlling the modules in the horizontal plane. Examples can though be made where it also will be appropriate to actively fix the elements in the vertical plane.
In fig. 11 is shown an example of how this can be done. The module 2 is placed on the road 5 and the fixing elements 13 are shaped like bolts, which have e.g. got a notch or an Allen key female end for attaching tools, and is supplied with screw thread in the bottom.
The bolts 13 are screwed into bushes 14 with screw threads, which is obviously equivalent to the external screw threads of the bolts. The bush 14 with screw threads can be fastened to the road surface by e.g. a glueing- or pouring process and the whole assembly can be carried out from the top of the module 2, as long as the hole, which penetrates the module 2 is appropriately dimensioned.