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

April 10, 2003

Refer to: HOTO-1

Mr. Robin Lewis
City Traffic Engineer
City Hall Annex
745 Northwest Bond Street
Bend, OR 97709

Dear Mr. Lewis:

Thank you for your February 24 letter requesting approval to experiment with pedestrian countdown signal displays at one intersection in the city of Bend.

As you are 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 at the one intersection in the city of Bend as detailed in your letter.

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 city of Bend 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 "4-260(Ex)– Bend, OR 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/ Scott L. Battles (for)

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