The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has published a notice in the Federal Register, requesting comments on compliance dates for highway agencies to upgrade their existing non-compliant traffic control devices in the field to comply with requirements established in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
The National Association of County Engineers (NACE) says this particular Federal Register notice is not a rulemaking action but is serving as a vehicle to solicit comments on the issues to help FHWA in analyzing the issues and in considering what actions, if any, might be advisable in the future.
The notice presents a general discussion of issues related to MUTCD compliance dates, discusses seven of the existing established compliance dates, and solicits comments and input on those issues and dates. The notice also includes a series of specific questions for which the FHWA requests input on each.
NACE notes in its NACE Update e-newsletter that the safety benefits of uniform traffic control devices are well known. However, NACE says, the organization “has been made aware of concerns by some state DOTs and local highway agencies about the potential impacts of MUTCD compliance dates in the current economic downturn, which has significantly reduced the resources available to public agencies.”
Because of this, NACE is seeking input from all stakeholders on this issue. The public has 45 days starting Nov. 30, 2010, to submit comments to the Federal Register.
To review the Federal Register notice and to post comments, go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and enter FHWA-2010-0159 as the docket number.
