The Humble Traffic Cone
Traffic cones/road cones or bollards were invented in 1914 by Charles P Rudebaker. Although originally made from concrete with the intention of being permanent or semi permanent installations, today’s modern Cones are made from Thermoplastics or High grade rubber compounds. Typically speaking, for durability and extensive use on busy roads and motorways, most cones are made from a two-part design with a very tough rubber composite base top. Cones can also be molded complete with hand grips to increase easy handling due to weight around 7kg which increases sturdiness.
Many traffic/road cones are made from recycled PVC plastics stripped from discarded plastic bottles.
Traffic cones are not always conical and depending on the desired use can be employed in various situations indoors and out.
Applications
The most typical applications for cones or bollards are road management, redirecting vehicles or warning oncoming traffic of dangerous conditions ahead. Cones are used to redirect contra flow traffic on motorways or duel carriage-ways many metres even kilometres prior to any hazard or work area. The purpose of traffic cones is to give advanced warning to drivers but also allow a subtle gradual change in the flow of the oncoming vehicles. Advanced warning provides a safety buffer for the workers or users cones which is paramount with fast-moving traffic and allows rapid evasion if the line of cones are breached. In the UK when major transportation work is ongoing the traffic cone line if you will can reach multiple miles. An example of this; in 2011 the M1 UK motorway improvement scheme between Junction 10 and Junction 13 has incorporated lane reorganization and hard shoulder use while work is ongoing. The system requires 15 miles of road cone configuration. Roughly speaking that is over 48,000 cones used in that specific traffic management system.
Cones or bollards can also be used to block of an area for specific reasons or unspecified reasons by the authorities the result is the same, an overt sign; “warning do not enter” without having a specific road sign made.
For night-time use most cones are or should be equipped with a retro-reflective sleeve that can be one solid colour, red for example or have a silver/white phosphorous band which slips snuggly over the cone. These are seen typically on many UK streets and have become a favorite for students to “liberate” and place in unique locations.
Traffic cones can be made in any size or configuration of height width and colour. Road Cones are often seen as useful tools for inside and outside use and cultural symbols. For example there is a huge traffic cone in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, Washington USA. The reasons for this are known to the artist and left open to the public to decide on its significance and meaning but it may pay homage to the prevalence in everyday life.
