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

November 19, 2001 Refer to: HOTO-l

Mr. William Pagett
City Engineer
City of Paramount
16400 Colorado Avenue
Paramount, CA 90723

Dear Mr. Pagett:

Thank you for your September 14 letter, addressed to Mr. Fred Small, requesting approval to experiment with in-roadway flashing lights at a signalized highway-rail,grade crossing in Paramount. A separate reply is being sent to Mr. Barry Hayslett of the County of Kern, who co-signed your letter, in regard to the three highway-rail grade crossing in that county.

We have reviewed your request to experiment with the installation of in-roadway flashing lights at the Paramount Boulevard - Rosecrans A venue intersection. From the materials submitted, it appears that this intersection is currently signalized, with railroad preemption and with cantilever-mounted and post-mounted flashing light signals at the grade crossing that traverses the intersection diagonally. Your proposal is to remove the flashing light signals and install flashing red in-roadway lights parallel to and 10 feet from the edge of the track. Although not specifically stated in your letter, it is assumed that the existing traffic signal operation, preemption sequence, and signal displays will not be changed. Also, your letter does not provide any information on how many flashing red in-roadway lights will be provided, their spacing, and their orientation in regard to the two directions of approaching traffic on each side ofthe tracks. We believe the proposal and the evaluation plan you submitted are basically sound, so we will approve the experimentation for a period of2 years, subject to receipt of a supplemental letter from you satisfactorily addressing the following:

1. Please confirm the intended traffic signal operation in the "after" condition, and provide the details of in-roadway light quantities, spacing, and directional orientation.
2. In accordance with Section IA.IO of the 2000 MUTCD, the City of Paramount must agree to restore the site of the experimentation to a condition that complies with the MUTCD within 3 months following the end of the time period of the experiment. The City of Paramount must also agree to terminate the experiment at any time that it determines significant safety concerns are directly or indirectly attributable to the experimentation, and must also acknowledge that the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Transportation Operations has the right to terminate this experimentation at any time if there is an indication of safety concerns.
3. The "predetermined stutter flash rate" as mentioned in your letter should be a rate not less than 50 and not more than 60 flashes per minute, consistent with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) requirements for flash rate of in-roadway lights at crosswalks (Section 4L.02.)

Because we are aware of several manufacturers that provide in-roadway lights that could be utilized in this experimentation, it is our understanding that the concept of the traffic control devices to be used in this experimentation is not protected by a patent or copyright. Therefore, a legally-binding statement to that effect (as listed in Section IA.IO) will not be required.

For purposes of record keeping, we have numbered and titled this experiment as "4-238 (Ex)In-Roadway Lights for Highway-Rail Grade Crossing-Paramount, CA." Please refer to this number in any future correspondence. We look forward to receiving your supplemental letter and progress reports as this experimentation proceeds. If you have any questions, please call Mr. Scott Wainwright at 202-366-0857. Thank you for your interest in improving traffic safety.

Sincerely yours,

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

cc: Mr. BaIT)' Hayslett, Kern County

FHW A:HOTO-l :SWainwrightds:60857: 11-15-01
cc: HOTO-l HOST-l HOTO-l(EHuckaby/GSchoene/SWainwright)
All Resources Centers HAD-CA(2) Mr. Bob Garrett, NCUTCD
Mr. Roger Wentz, A TSSA Chron 3408 Reader 3408
DF(4-238 (Ex) In-Roadway Lights for Highway-Rail Grade Crossing-Paramount CA)
M:\MUTCD\EXPERIME\4_238 (Ex).doc