Impacts on State and Local Agencies for Maintaining Traffic Signs within Minimum Retroreflectivity Guidelines

007488321998Task A Report; Oct 1994-Sept 1996PDFTech ReportFHWA-RD-97-0533A1a0092Task A ReportDTFH61-93-R-00131Economic impactsEquipment maintenanceGuide signsGuidelinesLocal government agenciesRegulatory signsRetroreflectivityStatesTraffic signsWarning signsCost estimatesCostsEconomic analysisLocal planningReflectorized signsReplacingSign reflectanceTraffic signsLocal agenciesReplacement costsTraffic sign maintenanceEconomicsHighwaysMaintenance and PreservationOperations and Traffic ManagementI61: Equipment and Maintenance MethodsI73: Traffic ControlUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationMcGee, Hugh W.Taori, SunilBellomo-McGee, Inc.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Research and DevelopmentTurner-Fairbank Highway Research CenterFederal Highway AdministrationThe Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed guidelines for minimum retroreflectivity levels for four groups of signs: 1) yellow/orange-on-black warning signs, 2) black-on-white regulatory signs, 3) white-on-red regulatory signs, and 4) white-on-green guide signs. As part of the development of these recommended values, the FHWA obtained the assistance of several State and local highway agencies. These agencies assisted by measuring the retroreflectivity of a pre-determined sample of signs, providing data on sign replacement costs, and commenting on the proposed retroreflectivity values and their ability to maintain their signs within these levels. These and other data that were collected independently were used to assess the anticipated economic impact of replacing signs to meet the recommended values. The report presents data on percentage of signs by the various types of retroreflective sheeting for both States and local agencies, a distribution of age of signs by type of sheeting, and the percentage of signs that would not meet the minimum retroreflectivity values. The report also presents a summary of the data and comments provided by the participating agencies related to the minimum retroreflectivity values. Based on additional sign inventory information provided by a small sample of State and local jurisdictions, an estimate of the number of signs by type per mile was determined. These data, with the data on sign replacement and replacement costs, were used to estimate the total cost for replacing signs on the Nation's highways to meet the proposed minimum retroreflectivity values