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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: August 11, 2014 Item No.: 7.e Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Adopt a Sign Retroreflectivity Policy B ACKGROUND 1 All agencies, including cities, who maintain roadways open to public travel, must adopt a sign 2 maintenance program designed to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity at or above specific 3 levels. 4 “Retroreflectivity” describes how light is reflected from a surface and returned to its original 5 source. 6 Traffic signs are made with retroreflective sign sheeting material that redirects headlamp 7 illumination back toward the vehicle, thereby making the sign visible at nighttime to the vehicle 8 driver. Improvements to nighttime visibility of traffic signs will help drivers better navigate 9 roads at night and thus promote safety and mobility. Improvements in sign visibility will also 10 help older drivers whose visual capabilities may be declining. 11 The retroreflective properties of all sign sheeting materials degrade over time making signs 12 progressively less visible at night. As signs degrade and become less retroreflective, their 13 effectiveness in communicating regulatory, warning, and guidance messages to road users at 14 nighttime diminishes to the point that they cannot be seen or read in time for the driver to react 15 properly. Thus, to maintain nighttime effectiveness, signs should be replaced before they reach 16 the end of their useful life. 17 Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices The(MUTCD), published by the U.S. Department 18 of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), sets forth basic principles of 19 traffic signs in order to promote safety on public roads. The MUTCD establishes uniform 20 standards for traffic signs. 21 The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MN/DOT) has adopted the MUTCD and certain 22 Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices MN/DOT appendices as the (MN 23 MUTCD). See http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/publ/mutcd/. 24 The Minnesota Commissioner of Transportation has ordered that the MN MUTCD shall be 25 implemented and applied to all traffic control devices. 26 The MN MUTCD requires the city to establish an assessment or management method that is 27 designed to maintain sign retroreflectivity at or above minimum levels specified in MN MUTCD 28 Table 2A-3, which can be seen on page 2A-6 of the MN MUTCD, Chapter 2A: 29 http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/publ/mutcd/mnmutcd2014/mnmutcd-2a.pdf. 30 The 2015 and 2018 compliance dates for replacement of signs that fail to meet minimum 31 standards have been eliminated. However, cities still need to adopt a policy to replace traffic 32 signs when they are worn out. Adopting a sign retroreflectivity policy will significantly reduce 33 Page 1 of 2