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Official Rulings

4(09)-20 (E) - Alternative Displays for Freeway Lane-Use Control Signals — Wisconsin DOT

FHWA's Response Letter Conditionally Approving the Request to Experiment

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U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.
Washington, D.C. 20590

June 7, 2012

In Reply Refer To: HOTO-1

Ms. Angela Adams
State Traffic Engineer
Bureau of Traffic Operations
Wisconsin DOT
4802 Sheboygan Avenue, Room 501
Madison, WI 53707-7986

Dear Ms. Adams:

Thank you for your December 2, 2011, request to experiment (RTE) with alternative displays for freeway lane-use control signals at the Mitchell Interchange in Milwaukee. Your experiment would evaluate DOWNWARD YELLOW ARROW signal indications and a signal indication that combines MERGE text with a HORIZONTAL YELLOW ARROW, all of which do not comply with the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

We have reviewed your request. Your request for experimentation is approved subject to your agreement to comply with the following condition:

  1. During the collection of "before" data, the lane-use control signal over the left-most lane shall display a YELLOW X signal indication and the lane-use control signals over the adjacent lanes shall display a DOWNWARD GREEN ARROW signal indication. This "before" data will then be compared to the "after data" collected when the lane-use control signal over the left-most lane is displaying the experimental MERGE and HORIZONTAL YELLOW ARROW signal indication and the lane-use control signals over the adjacent lanes are displaying a DOWNWARD YELLOW ARROW signal indication.

Please indicate your agreement with the above stated condition via an e-mail to Mr. Bruce Friedman of this office at bruce.friedman@dot.gov.

We look forward to receiving your semi-annual progress reports and your final evaluation report at the end of the study period.

For recordkeeping purposes, we have assigned the following official experimentation number and title: "4(09)-20 (E) - Alternative Displays for Freeway Lane-Use Control Signals — Wisconsin DOT." Please refer to this number in future correspondence.

Thank you for your interest in improving the operational capability and traffic safety through the use of alternative displays for freeway lane-use control signals.

Sincerely yours,

Original signed by:

Mark R. Kehrli
Director, Office of Transportation Operations