Nagano Prefecture Develops Wooden Guardrail for Road Safety

Nagano Prefecture, Japan, has successfully developed a wooden guardrail it calls the "Shinshu-gata Mokusei Guardrail" (Shinshu-style Wooden Guardrail), for installation along curved and steep roadsides, and the new design has passed impact tests. This is the first time a local government has succeeded in an effort such as this.

Revised national standards for the installation of guardrails along roads went into effect in 1999, allowing them to be made of wood, in addition to the conventional steel design. Since fiscal 2003, Nagano Prefecture worked jointly with local companies to develop the new guardrails using cedar, larch, and other wood from the thinning of local woodlands.

Starting in fiscal 2004, Nagano Prefecture will install the wooden guardrails along roads built and maintained by the prefectural government in four tourist areas, namely Karuizawa, Azumino, Yatsugatake-Seiroku and Kita-Shinshu. The government will also collect data such as aging of the product under rain, snow, and other weather conditions, and utilize the data to guide future maintenance.

One aim of this project was to find uses for wood that arises from the thinning of forests as a part of forest management operations. Other benefits include global warming prevention (by reducing the use of steel), establishment of a recycling-based society, creation of new jobs, and conservation of local woodlands. The local government will actively promote the use of wooden guardrails nationwide.



Posted: 2004/08/12 04:10:48 PM
Japanese version