Can they read your signs? How to develop a streamlined strategy for meeting FHWA traffic sign compliance dates Leslie McCarthy, Ph.D., P. E., Assistant Professor, and Seri Park, Ph.D., P.T.P., Assistant Professor, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania
he Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) created minimum traffic sign retroreflectivity levels through its Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) in response to a congressional mandate in the 1993 Department of Transportation Appropriations Act. FHWA set target deadline dates in the 2009 edition of the MUTCD for public agencies to comply with these standards. Subsequently, proposed revisions to the compliance dates were published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2011. Regardless whether the proposed revisions to the compliance dates are accepted, all public agencies must implement and continue use of a sign assessment or management
method and all regulatory and warning sign retroreflectivity values must be maintained at or above the established minimum levels. These two actions must be taken within two years from the effective date of the revised 2009 MUTCD. For a local public agency that does not formally possess a traffic sign inventory database, creating one would help ensure compliance with retroreflectivity standards. A formal sign inventory can help to reduce an agency’s risk of liability when violations or crashes occur at locations where signs are the main form of traffic control. According to the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ Traffic Sign Handbook, results from a highway tort liability
An example of a traffic sign that failed retroreflectivity minimum values. All regulatory signs owned by public agencies must be maintained at or above MUTCD minimums in the near future. 92 APWA Reporter
July 2012
study in Pennsylvania showed that sign deficiencies were cited as a leading factor in the sampled tort actions, second only to deformities in pavement surfaces. In addition, sign deficiencies were cited as the cause in 41% of crashes in which a fatality or serious injury occurred. For these reasons, it was essential that a system be developed that local public agencies can use to manage and assess their infrastructure and monitor exposure to liability. Ideally, the basis of a sign inventory method would include data such as average daily traffic, crash details, crash locations, etc., but much of the information used in sophisticated crash analysis is not within the municipal resources to collect or is simply not available. A more realistic approach is to identify the kind of data that typical local agencies do have in proposing a method for prioritizing sign inventory assessment locations. For most local public agencies, no overtime is budgeted for visual nighttime sign inspections. In general, assessment of signs is based on police patrols on nightly routes or on community feedback regarding signs exhibiting reduced visibility. In many cases, replacement work orders are used to address signs when budget and schedule permits. In most states, the local public agencies are faced with the challenge of having jurisdiction over the majority of traffic signs, but
