RiderPro® Motor Protection Rail proves it’s worth

Improvements have been underway on State Highway 3 (SH3) from Awakino Gorge to Mt Messenger in Taranaki for some time intending to improve safety, resilience and route availability on a road that runs through some rough terrain and is winding and narrow in places.

The safety improvements have included road widening, rest stop and pull over areas, slow vehicle bays and passing lanes along with slope stability works. A number of the upgrades feature roadside safety barriers and terminal ends from CSP including RiderPro® MPR - Motorcycle Protection Rail, which has more than proven its worth with several impacts reported since installation in October last year.

Top Cru Ltd is the barrier installation company responsible for the road safety barrier installation on these sections of SH3 on behalf of Inframex and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. Bruce Stephens, General Manager for Top Cru explains,

“We were asked to supply and install road barrier and terminal ends on a couple of sections of this project. For the Tongaporutu Intersection and Rapanui Passing Lanes (both of which are part of the larger 58km SH3 Awakino to Mt Messenger Safety Upgrade project) we supplied and installed 2270m of Sentry Barrier W-Beam Guardrail, 2100m of RiderPro® MPR - Motorcycle Protection Rail and 18 x MAX-Tension™ Leading End Terminals.”

The new sections of barrier have been hit several times since October. “In looking at the damage the barriers seem to have been impacted on the bottom rail which makes you suspect something has slid into the barrier - most likely a motorcyclist. This indicates that the Motorcycle Protection Rail is doing its job and that the upgrades were warranted by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.”


View our RiderPro® MPR - Motorcycle Protection Rail Product detail >