Concrete median strips play a crucial role in Perth’s roads by separating opposing traffic, improving safety, and providing space for signage or landscaping. We design and build median strips in Perth that are both functional and durable.
Whether it’s a long raised median in the middle of a highway or a small traffic island at an intersection, our team constructs these concrete medians to exact specifications, ensuring proper height, alignment, and finish.
With our medians, drivers get clear guidance and enhanced safety, while councils and road authorities get a low-maintenance solution that stands up to WA’s weather and traffic conditions.
A median strip is typically the strip of area between lanes of opposite directions on a road. When raised and made of concrete, medians serve multiple purposes: they discourage vehicles from crossing into oncoming lanes (improving safety), channelize traffic at intersections (preventing risky right turns or U-turns where not allowed), and sometimes house features like signs, signals, or landscaping. In Perth, you’ll see concrete medians on many boulevards and highways as continuous narrow islands with mountable or barrier kerbs. At intersections, there are often concrete traffic islands (technically a kind of median or splitter island) that separate turning lanes or pedestrian refuges.
We construct all kinds of these concrete islands and medians. For example, a splitter island on the approach to a roundabout is a concrete median that splits entering and exiting traffic and provides a pedestrian crossing refuge. These are usually shaped with concrete kerbs and filled with concrete or brick pavers. We make sure such islands are built to the design shape (which is often curved or tapered) and at the right height to be visible but not a hazard. According to traffic engineering guidelines, medians improve safety by reducing head-on collision risk and by organising vehicle movements. Our median strips adhere to Main Roads WA’s design criteria for width and visibility, often including a barrier or semi-mountable kerb of standard 150mm height along the median edges to strongly discourage vehicles from crossing over.
Medians can also be aesthetic elements: they may include stamped concrete, exposed aggregate, or even garden beds and trees (in wider medians on boulevards). We coordinate with landscape plans when needed, leaving tree wells or installing root barriers within medians as part of our work.
Building a concrete median strip involves setting out, kerb construction, and infill. Typically, after road base preparation, we mark the exact location and shape of the median using survey points or templates (especially for curved shapes).
The perimeter of most medians is defined by concrete kerbs. As discussed on our Kerb Concrete Perth page, we use barrier or semi-mountable kerb profiles for medians. Barrier kerbs (the steep ones) are used when we absolutely want to prevent overrunning, often on high-speed roads. Semi-mountable or mountable kerbs might be used in urban settings to allow emergency vehicles or occasional overruns without damage, as well as to accommodate easier maintenance or U-turn needs where allowed. We construct these kerbs either by hand or with an extruding machine if it’s a continuous, long median. They are anchored well into the pavement. Often, the median kerb is set on the road base, and we key it into the asphalt or concrete around to ensure it doesn’t shift.
Once the kerb outline is done, the centre of the median needs to be filled or treated. For a fully paved median, we may pour a concrete infill flush with the top of the kerb, effectively making a solid concrete island. Sometimes pre-cast concrete panels or slabs are used, but usually pouring in place is simpler for custom shapes. In other cases, the median might be backfilled with soil and then topped with concrete pavers or left as a garden bed. We can place a concrete apron around trees or signposts, etc. We ensure any penetrations (like signpost footings, light poles, or irrigation sleeves) are coordinated. For instance, if street lights sit in the median, their footing cages might need to be cast monolithically with the median. Our crew will set those in place and pour around them as required, delivering a neat finish.
New medians should be visible to drivers. We often incorporate retroreflective markers on the kerb (as required by standards, like yellow reflective tabs on the right side of traffic flow). The concrete kerb itself can be painted white or have a smooth finish that’s visible. Some medians, as per MRWA guidelines, use mountable kerbs in areas where high-speed impact could cause vehicle rollover. Instead, a mountable kerb would allow a vehicle to overrun with less severe consequences at the cost of some median damage. We select the kerb profile in line with the safety considerations given by road engineers.
Our construction also ensures medians aid drainage properly. Typically, the road is crowned and drains to the sides, but in cases of a median, we don’t want water pooling along it. We leave gaps or install kerb inlets if the median integrates with drainage. For example, on roads with median drainage, we might integrate a catch pit at the low point in the median with openings in the kerb. We coordinate such drainage features with our median concrete work seamlessly.
Main Roads WA has specific drawings and specs for median details, including the layout of the nose (the pointed end of an island facing traffic), which often must be a certain shape and reinforced or painted for high visibility. We follow these meticulously. The concrete used in median strips is generally similar to kerb concrete: 25–32 MPa, with attention to curing. Because medians are often directly in the sun and subject to vehicle heat and exhaust, we use mixes that can withstand thermal cycling and occasional fuel or oil exposure. This might include using a bit of fly ash in the mix to make it denser, or applying a penetrating sealer to the finished concrete for stain resistance (if specified).
Durability also comes from solid construction. A median that gets hit occasionally by vehicles (e.g., truck tires scrubbing against a median kerb on a tight turn) must hold up. Our kerbs are well-anchored: when extruded, the mix is low-slump and bonds well to the pavement; when hand-placed, we often tie the kerb into the pavement with rebar or haunch it with additional concrete at the base. Additionally, we ensure the infill doesn’t settle. If it’s soil with landscaping, we compact it properly and often add concrete edging inside to keep soil from eroding onto the road. If it’s concrete, it’s one piece with the kerb.
A well-built median strip greatly enhances road safety and can improve the streetscape. We take pride in the appearance of our medians, straight lines, smooth curves, and uniform kerb heights. An example is how a median’s “nose” (the end pointed at oncoming cars) is constructed: it should be properly tapered and finished to reduce collision severity and to guide drivers. We sometimes use pre-made templates for the nose shape or follow standard radius guidelines, resulting in a consistent outcome each time.
Landscaping medians is common in Perth boulevards, and we often work alongside landscapers. Our job may include pouring concrete edge beams within the median to retain soil or creating tree wells. We use techniques that protect the concrete from root growth where necessary (e.g., root barriers). These medians not only calm traffic by narrowing the visual width of roads (an effect known to reduce speeding), but also beautify the area.
For high-speed highways, medians are more about function (with plain concrete or paved finish to minimise maintenance). Even there, the contribution to safety is paramount. According to Main Roads, a properly designed median with barrier kerbs can separate traffic effectively, but it’s recommended to avoid barrier kerbs on roads over 70 km/h due to crash dynamics; in those cases, we might use a mountable profile or even no kerb with a wide painted median. We adapt to those design choices given by engineers.
In summary, our Perth median strip construction combines structural integrity with careful adherence to traffic safety principles. We deliver medians that are tough and long-lasting, standing up to Perth’s UV exposure, heat, and the occasional vehicle contact. These medians will guide traffic and protect lanes for many years before requiring any significant repair.
