6(09)-9 (E) – Blue Drums to Identify Business Driveway Locations — FL DOT

FHWA's Response Letter 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

October 4, 2011

In Reply Refer To: HOTO-1

Mark C. Wilson, P.E.
State Traffic Operations Engineer
Florida Department of Transportation
605 Suwannee Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450

Dear Mr. Wilson:

Thank you for your letter of June 15 requesting permission to experiment with the use of blue reflective striping on channelizing drums within temporary traffic control zones to assist road users in indentifying entrances to business driveways.

The ability of road users to determine the locations of entrances and exits within a lane closure has been identified as problematic by several agencies and we have previously approved a request from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT) to experiment with yellow and green reflective bands on drums and vertical panels to identify the openings for freeway exit ramps and intersecting streets (Experiment 6-197). The results of the Pennsylvania DOT experiment were not conclusive that the different color scheme improved the safety or operations of the work zone. However, we informed the Pennsylvania DOT that we would allow further experimentation with these devices if they so desired. To date, they have not requested approval to do any additional testing of the concept. We understand that you would not be interested in further evaluating the yellow and green colors that the Pennsylvania DOT used, since you chose blue to correspond to the background color of the business entrance signs currently used in temporary traffic control zones in Florida.

We have reviewed your request and your request is approved subject to your agreement to comply with the following conditions:

One concept that was not tried in Experiment 6-197 was using different types of MUTCD-compliant channelizing devices to provide a visual indication of a driveway entrance, rather than using different colors. For example, if drums are being used to delineate a closed lane, then barricades or vertical panels could be used to identify the location of a business driveway. This might be a way to accomplish the same goal using devices and applications that are already in compliance with the 2009 MUTCD. Therefore, please add the use of different types of MUTCD-compliant channelizing devices as Phase Two of your experiment, and renumber the use of the blue drums as Phase Three.
The evaluation plan needs to be expanded to include visual observations of driver behavior under the various conditions in addition to the surveys of drivers and business owners. The number of vehicles that erroneously travel through a portion of the closed lane instead of turning into the business driveway at the appropriate location is one measure of effectiveness that should be collected. Another more subjective measure would be the number of vehicles that made a late braking maneuver to make a turn into a business driveway. These observations, along with the proposed surveys, should provide a good measure of the effectiveness of the devices.

Please indicate your agreement with these conditions via an e-mail to Mr. Ken Wood at ken.wood@dot.gov. Also, please inform Mr. Wood via e-mail of the locations where the experiment will be conducted once those sites are identified.

We look forward to receiving your semiannual progress reports and your final evaluation report at the end of the experiment.

For recordkeeping purposes, we have assigned the following official experiment number and title: "6(09)-9 (E) – Blue Drums to Identify Business Driveway Locations — FL DOT." Please refer to this number in any future correspondence regarding this experiment.

Thank you for your interest in improving the safety at entrances to business driveways in temporary traffic control zones.

Sincerely yours,

Original signed by:

Mark R. Kehrli
Director, Office of Transportation Operations