Sign Retroreflectivity Guidebook for Small Agencies, Federal Land Management Agencies, and Tribal Governments

Federal Highway Administration2009PDFTech ReportCarlson, PaulPicha, DaleUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Central Federal Lands Highway DivisionUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of SafetyUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Central Federal Lands Highway DivisionUnited StatesRetroreflectivityHandbooksNight visibilityTraffic signsTribal governmentLocal governmentFHWA-CFL/TD-09-005\u201cRetroreflectivity\u201d describes how light is reflected from a surface and returned to its original source (\u201cretro\u201d-reflector). Traffic signs are made with retroreflective sheeting materials to increase their visibility at night. Maintaining traffic sign retroreflectivity is important to promoting nighttime traffic safety. This document was developed to assist small-sized agencies without traffic engineering staff in meeting the new Federal requirements for maintaining traffic sign retroreflectivity on roads open to public travel. By considering the needs and capabilities of small agencies, this document provides the necessary information needed to be in compliance with the new traffic sign retroreflectivity requirements. Two products were produced. One is a stand-alone computer-based package (known as the Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Toolkit) that includes the new retroreflectivity requirements as well as the necessary information needed to implement a program that will be in compliance with the new requirements. The second product is a hard copy of the computer-based package, without many of the features included in the computer-based package. These documents will help small agencies meet the new traffic sign retroreflectivity requirements while considering their limited resources.95