U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
400 Seventh St., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590

Refer to: HOTO-1

June 27, 2000

Mr. David Vieth
Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Division of Transportation Infrastructure Development
4802 Sheboygan Avenue
Madison, WI 53707-7965

Dear Mr. Vieth:

Thank you for your letter of June 1 to Mr. Jeffrey A. Lindley, Acting Director, Office of Transportation Operations (HOTO) regarding your request to experiment with Enhanced Highway Reference Signs. Please be advised that Ms. Shelley J. Row is the current Director of the Office of Transportation Operations.

Requests to experiment with similar Interstate Reference Markers have been approved for Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encourages the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to coordinate with these experiments to benefit from their experiences. We are also interested in the impact, if any, of modifying the reference marker design. For evaluation comparison purposes, we suggest that the route shield be positioned on the top line of the reference marker and the cardinal direction be spelled out instead of abbreviated.

We have had an opportunity to review your work plan and your request to experiment is approved, pending receipt of the following details of the experimentation. On page 2 of your evaluation plan, you indicate that you will interview emergency responders to gauge whether the blue reference markers are effective and will interview motorists to obtain their sense of understanding of these reference signs.

We require more detail such as, will you actually do interviews, what questions will be asked, how will the reference markers’ effectiveness be gauged, by which emergency responders, how much data will be collected and for how long a period? We also require more details on how motorist comprehension will be determined. Will you actually stop motorists to interview them in the field, or will you do a "laboratory" test using slides of the signs? What questions will be asked? In both cases, we would like to know how much data will be collected, and what statistical tests, if any, will be used. In addition, we need to know the total time period for experimentation. We will also require both an interim and a final report.

Please contact Ms. Linda Brown if you have any questions. Her address is:
Office of Transportation Operations (HOTO-1),
Federal Highway Administration, Room 3408,
400 Seventh Street, SW. 20590.
Her telephone number is 202-366-2192.

For recordkeeping purposes, the FHWA has assigned an official ruling number to your request. The number and title of your request is II-248(Expr.)–"Wisconsin Enhanced Highway Reference Signs."

Sincerely yours,

Shelley J. Row, P.E.
Director, Office of Transportation Operations