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American Traffic Safety Services Association
COMMITTEE
NEWS
Sign Committee
With 25 members in attendance, the Sign Committee meeting was opened by
Scott Chapman (chair), Judd Roby (vice chair), John Hayes (secretary), and
Staff Liaison Jim Kelly.
The LED and Emerging Technology Subcommittee, led by John Hayes,
reported that the group had no concerns about how the NCUTCD is
addressing the use of LEDs on static signs, and an updated report will be sent
out after the Traffic Expo. With changes to John’s job responsibilities, it was
announced that he will be leaving the Sign Committee to move over to the
TTC. Scott thanked John for serving both on the subcommittee as well as
secretary. Joe Jeffrey volunteered to serve as chair of the subcommittee. With
John’s move, Scott asked for volunteers to serve as secretary of the Sign
Committee. There were no takers.
Also, moving over to Friends of the Sign Committee is the chair of the
Federal Regulations & Related Documents Subcommittee, Ernie Huckaby.
Judd reported on the creation of Alternate Fuels Corridor and their signage
issues. Scott called for a volunteer to lead this group going forward.
Having completed their goals, the committee voted to disband three
subcommittees: the Sign Flash publication, ASTM & AASHTO Sign
Sheeting Standards, and RFI on Roadside Hardware Development and
Evaluation Process.
Replacing these groups was a task team to develop recommendations for the
Sign Committee membership category configuration in accordance with the
new committee rotation policy, with the goal of presenting the results at the
August Midyear Meeting. Members include Scott Covington, Ken Smith, Joe
Jeffries, and Jim Stewart. Also, the Sign Committee is sending Kevin
Harrison, Henry Ray, Tony Accetta, and Judd Roby as representatives to the
Government Relations Reauthorization Task Force.
The Retroreflectivity Website Group, led by Jim Stewart, is looking for
additional content to support a continual updating and expansion within
social media. After the meeting, it was announced that ATSSA is creating a
blog that would allow certain content to be searchable by Google, thus
expanding the reach of the Sign Committee’s efforts in this field.
Henry Ray, subbing for Joanne Conrad, reported for the TCDs on Private
Property subcommittee. A discussion ensued about the issue of
noncompliance and enforcement, the preponderance of illegal product
offerings, and the lack of a federal mandate to comply with the standards.
Scott challenged the group to bring a plan to the next meeting.
With the completion of sample procurement specifications for digital printing,
Tony Accetta thanked the group members and made a motion to direct Roger
to send a letter to APWA, IMSA, IPE, NACE, and other related organizations
to make them aware of the specifications and ask them to share them with
their members.
The committee also approved a motion to direct Roger to send a letter to all
state transportation secretaries urging them to include a sign management
program into their overall asset management plan.
Richard Moeur, P.E., AZDOT, gave an update on bicycle signing. This
included bicycle route markers, “except bicycles” plaques on other regulatory
signage, improved markers for state and local bike routes, signage on
freeways for bicyclists, bikeway work zone signs, intersection bikeway signs,
bikeway services signs, and improved guidance for bike routes. He also
briefed the committee on future signage issues. Richard also made a
presentation on a new Arizona Manual of Approved Signs (MOAS). The
manual has been completely rebuilt over the last four years. It is available
online at the MOAS site. It ties in to the MUTCD code and uses SignCAD
templates. In a unanimous vote, Scott was re-elected as chair.
Member Engagement Committee
The Member Engagement Committee meeting was held on Feb. 14. There were
five of the eight committee members in attendance.
Marc Rue stepped down from the secretary position and as a committee
member. He has joined a technical committee. The committee chair,
Devvon Holst, will appoint a new secretary in August at the midyear
committee meeting.
Eric Tennessen, Innovation Website Task Force lead, presented on current and
possible future use of the membership directory on the innovation website. The
committee has decided to review this further before making any decisions.
NFP Property & Casualty Services Inc. presented on the benefits of using a
captive insurance program. The Research and Development Subcommittee
will look into all possible options before making any determinations. They will
research other captives and look to other resources and will report back at the
Midyear Meeting in August.
The Research and Development Committee will be putting together a survey
for members to ensure they are moving the committee in the right direction.
The survey will be sent out in the spring, and the committee will be discussing
results at the Midyear Meeting.
Marc Rue, president of NorthStar Safety Inc., West Fargo, N.D. There were
agenda items common to all of the technical committees and councils that were
shared with attendees for informational purposes, including committee
rotation, call for new member prospects, offer to participate on a government
relations task force, and opportunities to provide input on future training needs
and Traffic Expo educational topics.
Chairman Leidle spurred enthusiasm and interest from attendees to bolster the
Expo Workshops Subcommittee membership by an additional seven to help
Research Engineer Melisa Finley, Texas A&M Transportation Institute,
College Station, Texas, and CEO Jack Kulp, TrafFix Devices, San Clemente,
Calif., that had led the effort with Marty Weed over past years. Great ideas
have already been shared among this group for 2018. The Strategic Plan and
TTC Work Plan groups were consolidated, and the Quality Guidelines for TTC
Task Force was sunset, as they had accomplished their charge to update the
guideline document. The 2017 TTC Strategic Work Plan was approved as
submitted by Jeff Johnson, who is president of Trafficade Services, Phoenix.
Henry Ross, who is director of government relations, Plasticade, Skokie, Ill.,
and Jim Crowley, who is vice president of product development, Trinity
Industries, Naperville, Ill., provided a chronology of progress on MASH
testing communications, highlighted by a letter sent by ATSSA to AASHTO of
milestone importance to our work zone device industry members.
A discussion concerning the TTC Committee’s position on whether the Manual
of Uniform Traffic Control Devices or ATSSA training materials should
stipulate “methods and means” of worker installation, provided an opportunity
for industry practitioners, public agency engineers, and regulators to share their
knowledge of legal, contractual, and real-world experiences, arriving at
consensus that such methods and means should be left to the contractor and not
prescribed. The responsibility and authority resides with the company and
team in the field who make adjustments and adaptations using the tenets of
traffic control with typical applications that are “typical” and not an exact
replica to be duplicated. The meeting closed with Chairman Leidle asking for
feedback on the committee’s participation matrix, with the proportion of
member types to be determined at ATSSA’s midyear TTC Committee meeting.
Temporary Traffic Control Committee continued from page 35 >