United States Department of Transportation
i
Revised Assessment of Economic Impacts of Implementing Minimum Levels of Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity
-
2010-01-01
-
[PDF-205.54 KB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Contributors:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Contracting Officer:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:The Federal Highway Administration’s retroreflectivity team prepared a revised assessment of the economic impacts for a proposed rulemaking initiative that would revise the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to include minimum maintained levels of retroreflectivity for pavement markings. The revised assessment represents an update of the preliminary analysis that was prepared before the team developed the proposed MUTCD language. The retroreflectivity team used the proposed MUTCD language, along with data from the preliminary analysis and a series of assumptions related to marking applications, to calculate the number of miles of markings on a national basis that would be subject to compliance with the minimum retroreflectivity values. The team then calculated the current annual maintenance costs for these markings. Next, the team calculated the annual national costs associated with maintaining the markings to the minimum levels by adjusting the service lives of the markings in accordance with the applicable minimum retroreflectivity level. Using an assumption that the distribution of marking materials on a national basis is 75 percent paint, 20 percent thermoplastic, and 5 percent epoxy, the team calculated the annual nationwide costs of implementing two alternative minimum pavement marking retroreflectivity standards, based on reported public preferences. The increased costs of the two options (less stringent and more stringent) were estimated as $64 million and $126 million, respectively, or 3.2 percent and 6.3 percent of the current costs of $2 billion, respectively. Although the evidence of potential safety improvements remains limited, there is some reason to believe that the more stringent option would not generate commensurate benefits. Therefore, the less costly alternative is recommended.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
