Carson firm has lane barriers on Carquinez Bridge

As the evening progresses, the Carquinez Bridge in Vallejo, Calif., narrows from four lanes to one lane with the help of a moveable concrete barrier pioneered by Carson City-based Barrier Systems.

The firm's Quickchange Moveable Barrier System offers the portability of

plastic pylons or weighted barrels but with the strength of concrete barriers like those at Spooner, Pleasant Valley and west of Dayton.

Barrier Systems essentially produces a concrete zipper.

One-meter-long concrete blocks are linked together with heavy steel pins that creates a 32-inch high, 2-foot-wide barrier. A transfer machine truck drives over the wall to lift and shift the barrier from lane to lane.

One mile of wall can be moved from one lane to another in about 12 minutes - a rate faster than Bay Area rush hour traffic.

The barrier on Interstate 80 on the Carquinez Bridge quickly provides a safe area for construction workers on the night earthquake retrofit project.

A transfer machine first moves the barrier one lane over at 8 p.m. The barrier shifts over another lane at 9 p.m., then closes a third lane at 11 p.m.

"This is a much safer and quicker method than using traffic cones or barrels," said Jay Ciccotti, marketing coordinator at Barrier Systems.

The Carquinez barrier has been in place since November.

The company presently has moveable barriers at about 25 construction sites across the country. The transfer machines can be seen in action by logging on to www.PJStar.com at 9:15 a.m. or 7:15 p.m. Pacific time, when one gets a view of the barrier on the McClugage Bridge in Peoria, Ill.

Barrier Systems has supplied barriers to more than 80 construction projects since 1988. Ciccotti said barriers for construction make up about 60 percent to 65 percent of Barrier Systems' work while permanent barriers - used to create reversible rush-hour lanes - are in place in nine locations around the world.

The Tappan Zee Bridge in New York City and the Coronado Bridge in San Diego have Barrier System barriers. The longest and newest (1998) moveable barrier is on a 10-miles stretch of H-1, the freeway leading into Honolulu.

"We've placed well over 150 miles of barriers and we've made 70 transfer machines," Ciccotti said.

The Quickchange Moveable Barrier has been under consideration for the Golden Gate Bridge for more than three years.

"I honestly don't know how to explain the Golden Gate Bridge," Ciccotti said. "To date, the Golden Gate district has not signed a go-ahead, if you will."

Barrier Systems created a specially modified barrier, only 1 foot wide, to accommodate the narrow lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge. While waiting for a Golden Gate commitment, Barrier Systems shipped that barrier to Seattle for use on the Spokane Viaduct, Ciccotti said.

Barrier Systems has its headquarters in Carson City but doesn't manufacture the barriers or transfer machines here. The transfer machines are made in Rio Vista, Calif., while the barriers

Since 1990, Carson City-based Barrier Systems Inc. has installed Quickchange Moveable Barriers on some notable freeways and bridges across the country and in foreign countries. These barriers create extra lanes for peak traffic hours by reversing the direction of travel on designated lanes. The following roadways currently use the system on a permanent basis. Another couple dozen moveable barriers are in place at construction sites across the country.

- Auckland Harbour Bridge in New Zealand

- Interstate 30 in Dallas

- Tappan Zee Bridge in New York

- Coronado Bridge in San Diego

- Interstate 93 in Boston

- Roosevelt Bridge in Washington, D.C.

- A-13 in Montreal

- PR-22 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

- H-1 in Hawaii, the longest Barrier Systems barrier at 10 miles

You can watch moveable barriers getting shifted from lane to lane at 9:15 a.m and 7:15 p.m. Pacific time on the Internet at: www.PJStar.com and clicking on to "bridge cam." This gives you a real-time view of the McClugage Bridge in Peoria, Ill., where a Barrier System barrier creates extra lanes for rush-hour traffic during a construction project.