July 23, 2003

Refer to: HOTO-1

Mr. Christopher S. Cash
Assistant Director
Utilities and Infrastructure Department
City of Paramount
16400 Colorado Avenue
Paramount, CA 90723-5012

Dear Mr. Cash:

Thank you for your June 25 letter to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regarding the request for permission to experiment with school zone delineators.

You indicated in your letter that the city of Paramount sent a request letter on December 16, 2002, and did not get any response from the FHWA. We checked our record and did not find the letter. We want to apologize for possibly misplacing of that letter.

Based on the requirements and process outlined in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) Section 1A.10, an experimentation plan containing the following additional information should be submitted to the FHWA in order for the FHWA to approve your request for permission to experiment with school zone delineators:
• The length, specific location(s) of the experimentation, and the existing traffic control conditions of selected location(s);
• The duration of the experimentation: The duration of the experimentation should be at least one year. The location site(s) should be restored to a condition that complies with the provisions of the MUTCD within 3 months following the end of the time period of the experimentation;
• A detailed evaluation plan including before and after studies as well as quantitative data that could be used to measure the performance of the proposed school zone delineators;
• An agreement to restore the experimentation site(s) to a state complying with the provisions of the MUTCD should at any time it be determined that significant safety hazards are directly or indirectly attributed to the experimentation; and
• An agreement to submit semi-annual progress reports and a final report to the FHWA, Office of Transportation Operations.

Please also refer to the MUTCD Section 1A.10 for detailed information on how to develop and submit a request for permission to experiment with traffic control devices. The MUTCD Section 1A.10 can be accessed via the FHWA website at http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov.

To expedite the approval process, you may fax your revised request with an experimentation plan to Ms. Guan Xu at 202-366-3225. Your request will be approved pending our receipt of the additional information indicated above.

We would also like to provide some additional information regarding the in-street pedestrian crossing signs/delineators for your consideration. The in-street pedestrian crossing signs/delineators have been proposed to the Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) as Revision No. 2 of the Millennium edition of the MUTCD. We have received comments in favor of including the proposed in-street pedestrian crossing signs/delineators for unsignalized crosswalks in school zones to the MUTCD. The FHWA is currently completing the internal review process for the 2003 Edition of the MUTCD. The MUTCD Team is seriously reviewing the comments during this review and decision-making process. The final rule is anticipated for publication in October 2003.

For future reference purposes, we have assigned the following official ruling number and title to your request: 7-58 (E)-"Paramount, CA In-Street School Zone Delineators/Signs." Please refer to this number in future correspondence.

If you have any questions, please call Ms. Guan Xu at 202-366-5892.

Sincerely yours,
/s/ Vincent P. Pearce
Vincent P. Pearce
Acting Director, Office of Transportation Operations