Federal Highway Administration
400 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20590

Refer to: HOTO-1
August 23, 2002

Mr. Mark Lewis
City Engineer
Department of Public Works
10200 Slater Avenue
Fountain Valley, CA 92708

Dear Mr. Lewis:

Thank you for your August 5 letter requesting experimentation with yellow-green pavement markings for school zone crossings. We have reviewed your marking layout and agree with your proposal. You have our approval to begin installing the marking material.

We have received several inquiries on experimentation with the yellow-green pavement marking materials. We are working with the research staff at the Federal Highway Administration’s Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in developing guidance for an effective evaluation plan and data gathering. The following is a non-exclusive list of data that we recommend be collected for both before and after conditions.

Vehicle speeds
Vehicle volumes
Pedestrian volumes
Driver behavior
Pedestrian behavior (when there is no crossing guard)
Weather conditions
Time of day
Time of year

We also recommend including a control site at a comparable school (elementary, middle, or high school) crossing location in order to validate data collection. This same data would also be collected at that site. If crossing guards are used then they should be used at both sites. We hope to have a sample data collection form in the near future. Please note that it is not critical that your "after" data collection take place this Fall. The collection of the data in the Spring would be acceptable and may even be preferred since the novelty effect may wear off and it would also allow for some weathering of the material.

Please revise your evaluation plan to include the items mentioned above. In a telephone conversation on August 13, Mr. Jose Alire of your staff, and Ms. Cherie Kittle from this office, agreed that the yellow-green pavement markings would be installed with the standard white pavement marking material for contrast. It is recommended that the white markings at the control site and the contrasting markings be installed at the same time. Please provide us with an approximate start date for your experimentation. This experimentation is approved for a minimum of one year and semi-annual reports are required. Also, please acknowledge your agreement to restore the site of the experimentation to a condition that complies with the provisions of the MUTCD within 3 months of the end of the time period of experimentation period. Also, please acknowledge that you agree to terminate the experimentation at any time it is determined significant safety concerns are directly or indirectly attributable to the experimentation. In addition, the FHWA has the authority to terminate this experimentation at any time there is an indication of safety concerns.

For reference purposes, we have assigned your request the following official experimentation number and title: "7-45(E)-Yellow-Green Pavement Markings for School Zone Crossings." Please refer to this number in future correspondence. To expedite the approval process you may fax your revised plan to use at 202-366-3225.

If you have any questions, please call Ms. Cherie L. Kittle at 202-366-2188.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ Shelley Row

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