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

September 15, 2004
Refer to: HOTO-l

Ms. Julie Crimmins
21 Williams Street, Apartment #2
Roselle Park, NJ 07204

Dear Ms. Crimmins:

Thank you for your letter of July 10 requesting an interpretation of "a limited area or zone" as it applies to parking restrictions.

The term "limited area or zone" is included in Section 2B.40 paragraph 5 of the 2003 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD); however, no definition is included in the MUTCD of this term. To assist you, the Federal Highway Administration offers the following as an official interpretation of the MUTCD as to the application of the term "limited area or zone:"

A "Limited area or zone" applies to short distances within a block or portion of a street. An entire street is not a limited area or zone. Arrows or supplemental plaques are only necessary if the parking restriction applies to a limited area or zone.

In accordance with the interpretation detailed above, the situation that you described in your letter is not a "limited area or zone" but rather an entire street and the guidance requirement for the use of arrows or ~upplementa1 plaques would not apply.

For recordkeeping purposes, your request has been entitled "2-554{I) No Parking-Limited Area or Zone." We hope this interpretation helps to clarify the language in the MUTCD. We will consider including this clarification in the next revision of the MUTCD. If you have further questions, you may contact Mr. Fred Ranck of the FHWA MUTCD team at 7()8-283-3545.

Sincerely yours,

Regina S. McElroy
Director, Office of Transportation
Operations