February 26, 2003
Refer to: HOTO-1
Mr. Calvin K. Grow
Traffic Engineer
Town of Leesburg
P.O. Box 88
Leesburg, VA 20178
Dear Mr. Grow:
Thank you for your February 10 letter requesting approval to experiment with pedestrian countdown signal displays citywide in Leesburg.
As you may be aware, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) for Revision No. 2 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). That NPA includes the proposed addition of pedestrian countdown displays for optional use, with uniform design, and operation when used. The docket for comments on this and the other proposals closed on August 19, 2002, and a Final Rule for Revision No. 2 is anticipated sometime in the late summer or early fall of 2003. Until such time as a Final Rule is issued, countdown pedestrian displays are still considered experimental. We approve your request to experiment with pedestrian countdown displays citywide in Leesburg as detailed in your letter, with the following conditions:
1. The countdown displays and operation should correspond to those detailed in the proposed MUTCD Revision No. 2.
2. Per Section 1A.10 of the MUTCD the experimentation must be terminated at any time that you determine that significant safety concerns are directly or indirectly attributable to the experimentation. Also, please note that the FHWA’s Office of Transportation Operations retains the right to terminate approval of the experimentation at any time if there is an indication of safety concerns.
Your request to experiment is approved for 1 year or until such time as a final ruling on the proposed MUTCD Revision No. 2 is made, whichever occurs first. Upon issuance of a final ruling on proposed MUTCD Revision No. 2, the town of Leesburg may be required to modify or remove the pedestrian countdown displays depending on the details of the Final Rule.
For future reference, we have numbered and titled this experimentation as "4-257(Ex) – Leesburg, VA Pedestrian Countdown." Please reference this number in any future correspondence. Again, we do appreciate your interest in improving conditions for pedestrians and if we can be of further assistance, please contact Mr. Scott Wainwright at 202-366-0857.
Sincerely yours,
/s/
Shelley J. Row, P.E.
Director, Office of Transportation Operations