Retroreflectivity of existing signs in Pennsylvania.

Details

• Creators:
  Clevenger, Kyle ; Colello, Karen ; Quirus, Jeannette
• Corporate Creators:
  McCormick Taylor (Firm)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Pennsylvania. Dept. of Transportation. Bureau of Maintenance and Operations ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Traffic signs
  • Reflective signs
  • Retroreflectivity
  • Service life
  • Expected sign life
  • Sign retroreflectivity
  • Sign service life
  • Sign management system
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-PA-2012-003-E01041-WO9
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Pennsylvania
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Pennsylvania. Dept. of Transportation
• Abstract:
  The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Bureau of Highway Safety and Traffic Engineering initiated this ; research effort in response to the release of the new 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) which mandates ; that all states shall have a sign maintenance method designed to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity at or above the established ; minimum levels in place by January 2012. The goal of this research effort was to collect and analyze sign retroreflectivity ; measurements on a subset of PennDOT owned and maintained signs throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in order to ; better understand the potential service life of signs with regard to nighttime visibility in Pennsylvania. As PennDOT implements its ; sign management system, with respect to compliance with the minimum retroreflectivity levels, the findings of this research will ; assist PennDOT in better determining when signs may need replaced. Retroreflectivity levels were measured on a sample of 1,000 ; traffic signs using a DELTA Light and Optics RetroSign 4500 retroreflectometer. In order to obtain regional variety, an equal ; portion of signs (one third in each county) were measured in Lackawanna, Lehigh and Lancaster counties to represent the ; northern, central and southern tiers of the state. The number of yellow warning signs, white regulatory signs, green directional ; signs and red Stop, Yield, Do Not Enter and Wrong Way signs to be measured was determined using the proportion of each sign ; color’s overall population in the state. PennDOT’s current standard specifications for reflective sheeting require the use of Type III ; or Type IV sheeting for post-mounted sign installations and the sign sheeting manufacturer warranties are typically 10 years; ; therefore the data collection efforts were limited to Type III signs aged 10 years or older. The study recommends an expected sign ; life of 15 years for yellow, white, red and green signs in Pennsylvania.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  E01041, Work Order 9
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/24483/dot_24483_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.48 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:fbf423c1806ea48f3fb81aa4e7e831741705e74791c352a960e50ed82858a609