Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 Seventh St. SW
Washington, DC 20590

Refer to: HOTO-1

1/24/2002

Mr. Greg Blonder
120 Woodland Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901

Dear Mr. Blonder:

Thank you for your December 17, 2001, letter requesting a change in the Federal standards for pavement markings. Federal Highway Administrator Mary E. Peters has asked me to reply to your letter.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) is the national standard that governs the design, application, and placement of traffic control devices in all jurisdictions nationwide. The 2000 edition of the MUTCD is published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on the website http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov and you are encouraged to review it there, especially Part 3, which deals with pavement markings. The angled arrow being used by the New Jersey Highway Authority in some of the merge situations on their facilities is shown in Figure 3B-20, as item "f. Lane Reduction Arrow." There is currently no provision in the MUTCD for "angled" longitudinal lane lines such as you have suggested. Because there has been no experimentation or research to evaluate such angled lane lines, there is no basis on which to make a change to the MUTCD at this time. For reference purposes, we have assigned your request for a change the following number and title: "3-153 (C)--Angled Markings." Please refer to this number in any future correspondence on this subject.

Providing for improved safety conditions on the Nation’s streets and highways is an extremely important goal, and we at the FHWA are always interested in new ideas that might help achieve the goal. Experimentation with new traffic control devices is encouraged so that their utility and effectiveness can be properly evaluated. I am enclosing an excerpt from the MUTCD, specifically Section 1A.10, which addresses the experimentation process. If the New Jersey Highway Authority, the New Jersey Department of Transportation, or any other public jurisdiction or private toll road authority would like to experiment with your idea of an angled lane line for merge areas, they should submit an official request for approval of experimentation to the FHWA, as called for in Section 1A.10. Upon receipt of such a request with the necessary information, we will be happy to review the request and consider granting experimentation approval.

Thank you again for your letter, and we look forward to hearing further from any jurisdictions that would like to experiment with your idea. Meanwhile, if there is any question, please call Mr. Scott Wainwright at 202-366-0857. Your interest in improving traffic safety is sincerely appreciated.

Sincerely yours,

Christine M. Johnson
Program Manager, Operations
Director, ITS Joint Program Office

Enclosure