How can highway officials assure that they are meeting the new provisions for retroreflectivity and that their signs provide reasonable visibility at night?
Since the retroreflective properties of traffic control devices deteriorate over time, highway officials should assess their schedules for inspecting, cleaning, and replacing signs to ensure that these maintenance activities meet the provisions of the MUTCD, and more importantly, the needs of drivers at night. Agencies will need to implement one or more of the five methods described in Section 2A.09 of the MUTCD to assess signs for nighttime visibility, or an agency may decide to develop its own assessment or management method based on engineering studies. Additionally, procurement processes should be checked to ensure that sign materials are being specified that offer retroreflectivity performance that meets or exceeds the minimum levels specified in the new Table 2A-3 in the MUTCD.
