Interview with Midwest Roadside Safety Facility

Fri, 04/01/2022

As part of its work highlighting innovators in the dynamic tech sector here in Nebraska and the region more broadly, the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center is reaching out to regional tech leaders to ask them a few questions about their work, how they got started, and where they see their organization headed in the future. Today we are featuring The Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) “a research organization with a main focus of researching all aspects of highway design and safety.” MwRSF aims to improve highway safety by making the roadside less hazardous for motorists; design develop, and crash test roadside hardware; conduct safety performance evaluations of existing roadside features; and perform computer simulation modeling of vehicle impacts with roadside hardware.

Tell us a little about the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility and the work that you do.

The Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) is recognized as a global leader in the development of crashworthy roadside safety structures, which have been adopted nationwide, and several that have been adopted internationally. Every state in the U.S. has accepted and implemented products which were designed and tested at MwRSF. These new safety features have saved the lives of countless motorists across the nation over the last 35 years. Roadside safety features developed and tested at MwRSF have included: the Midwest Guardrail System; the thrie-beam bullnose impact attenuator; an innovative Test Level 4 transparent noise barrier; and the Delta Crash Cushion. Further, the MwRSF has become recognized as a leader in computer simulation modeling of roadside safety features. MwRSF’s success in the development of innovative safety features attracted funding from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), a division of the National Academies. Under this program, MwRSF developed improved guidelines for testing and evaluating the safety performance of roadside features, conducted research to update bridge rail and deck design procedures, and conducted a long-term accident investigation study to better understand the causes of injuries and fatalities in ran-off-road crashes.

In 1998, MwRSF worked with the motorsports industry to improve the safety for race car drivers participating in high-speed racing events. More specifically, MwRSF partnered with the Indy Racing League (IRL) (now IndyCar), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), and NASCAR to develop, test, and evaluate safety features for high-speed racetracks. With the support of IRL/IndyCar, IMS, and NASCAR, MwRSF developed the Steel And Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier for use on high-speed oval race tracks. This system has been installed at NASCAR and IndyCar race tracks, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Even though some of impacts with the barrier have been extremely severe, no significant driver injuries have occurred. Phil Casey, Senior Technical Director, of the Indy Racing League has stated that SAFER Barrier is “the greatest achievement for safety in automobile racing that’s been made.”

In recent years, MwRSF faculty and engineers have conducted research for agencies within the Department of Defense to investigate and develop new techniques, disruption devices, and containment systems to mitigate terrorist threats to high-value government and military assets, especially entry-control facilities.

How was the Roadside Safety Facility founded?

Roadside safety research began at the University of Nebraska (UNL) in 1974 when Dr. Edward R. Post left the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) of Texas A&M University and joined the Civil Engineering Faculty in Lincoln, Nebraska. For many years, this small research program continued to operate with a small number of graduate students, primarily supported by local government agencies, such as the Nebraska Department of Roads. In the mid- to late 1980's, the research program had continued to grow due to support from a few additional state highway agencies as well as from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL). This additional funding allowed the program to support a greater number of graduate and undergraduate engineering students, which in turn slightly increased the capabilities of the research program. Two individuals who helped to create this research program, Dr. Ronald Faller and Mr. James Holloway, actually started working at UNL as civil engineering students, but they remain to this day. In these early years, the research program consisted mostly of the crash testing and evaluation of standard hardware designs used by individual state highway agencies.

What early barriers did you face?

In 1990, it became evident that for this research program to succeed and continue to exist into the future, it was critical for the program to maintain continuity and its staff beyond that provided by rotating students in and out every two to three years. It was also deemed necessary for the research group to obtain a greater identity, resulting in the research group giving itself the name, the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF). At this same time, three states in the Midwest — Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri — recognized the need for additional research to improve roadside safety and to reduce injuries and fatalities associated with ran-off-road crashes.

Later, the concept of a research program funded annually by the Nebraska State Department of Transportation was conceived. This program would partially support MwRSF’s research program and allow it to continue to grow and excel with a more permanent staff. As a result, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln collaborated with the states of Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri to form the Midwest State's Regional Pooled Fund Program (now known as the Midwest Pooled Fund Program) — a program dedicated to sponsoring roadside safety research. Shortly thereafter, the program was joined by the State of Iowa.

As the research program appeared to have broken new ground for financial commitment and support for the future, the MwRSF staff lost its original Director as Dr. Post passed away in the spring of 1991. This resulted in a search for a new Director to lead the group into the future. In 1992, Dr. Dean Sicking left TTI to join the Civil Engineering Faculty in Lincoln and to become MwRSF's second permanent director.

What advantages or challenges does Nebraska pose as a research environment?

The State of Nebraska offers various advantages and challenges to our research program. First, the four-seasons in Nebraska’s climatic environment allows researchers to physically test and evaluate structural systems across a broader performance range — from extreme heat to extreme cold as well as when installed in full range soil conditions, from dry to fully saturated. However, these ranges can also create major challenges when those effects are not desired within the testing and evaluation program at MwRSF’s outdoor proving grounds. The outdoor, natural environment may require special care and protections to remove such natural conditions when not desired for the research program, resulting in extra time and cost.

Further, MwRSF has also found a great work ethic amongst so many dedicated and hard-working students and full-time personnel that come to UNL from instate as well as from the across the Midwest. That labor pool has greatly benefitted the research outcomes, which ultimately and positively impacts our society here and abroad.

Where do you see the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility heading over the next five to ten years?

In the future, MwRSF anticipates a focus on new smart infrastructure technologies and systems that will reduce or mitigate the number of vehicles that unintentionally leave their lanes or become errant and encroach into the roadside or median. In addition, the vehicle fleet will be transformed with a greater number of crossover utility vehicles and electrical vehicles traveling on highways and roadways, which may require alterations or adjustments to our nation’s roadside safety hardware. Further, there may be increased focus on the safety of heavy-vehicle transport, which may often be associated with fuel, chemicals, etc. When crashes occur, these large vehicles may encounter vehicle rollover and catastrophic outcomes, affecting the motoring public as well as nearby businesses and residents.

 

Midwest Roadside Safety Crash Test