Highway guardrail assembly

Abstract

A highway guardrail post comprises an elongated one-piece roll-formed metal body including a front wall defining an attachment face, a pair of opposing side walls orthogonal to the front wall, a first pair of inverted corners respectively connecting the pair of side walls to the front wall, and a second pair of inverted corners respectively extending from the pair of side walls and terminating in a pair of spaced rear edges to define a rear access opening opposite the front wall. The guardrail posts may be manufactured by roll-forming a metal sheet or coil and cutting the roll-formed metal sheet or coil into lengths.

1 - 5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . A guardrail assembly comprising:
 first and second vertical guardrail posts spaced from one another, each guardrail post comprising an elongated one-piece roll-formed metal body including a front wall defining an attachment face, a pair of opposing side walls orthogonal to the front wall, a first pair of inverted corners respectively connecting the pair of side walls to the front wall, and a second pair of inverted corners respectively extending from the pair of side walls to define a rear access opening opposite the front wall; and   a horizontal rail connected to the front wall of each of the first and second guardrail posts.   
     
     
         7 . The guardrail assembly according to  claim 6 , wherein the horizontal rail is a substantially rigid section fastened directly against the attachment face of at least one of the vertical guardrail posts. 
     
     
         8 . The guardrail assembly according to  claim 6 , wherein the horizontal rail is a flexible cable connected to the front wall of each of the first and second guardrail posts by a respective U-bolt or eye-bolt extending through the front wall. 
     
     
         9 . The guardrail assembly according to  claim 6 , further comprising a spacer block fastened directly against the attachment face of at least one of the first and second guardrail posts, wherein the horizontal rail is connected to the front wall of the at least one guardrail post by way of the spacer block. 
     
     
         10 . The guardrail assembly according to  claim 9 , wherein the horizontal rail is a substantially rigid section fastened directly against a surface of the spacer block. 
     
     
         11 . The guardrail assembly according to  claim 9 , wherein the horizontal rail includes a flexible cable connected to the spacer block by a U-bolt or an eye-bolt extending into the spacer block. 
     
     
         12 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . The guardrail assembly according to  claim 6 , wherein the first and second guardrail posts are supported by ground.