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

ACTION: Interpretation of MUTCD 8B.02 (Reference 8-58(I)

HOTO-1

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

Janice W. Brown
Division Administrator (HDA-MT)
Helena, Montana

This is in reply to Mr. Lloyd Rue’s December 11, 2001, request for an interpretation of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) regarding Section 8B.02-Highway-Rail Grade Crossing (Crossbuck) Signs (R15-1, R15-2). Mr. Rue has asked if the retroreflective material is to be used on the crossbuck sign supports for both passive and active crossings.

The current MUTCD text (Section 8B.02) requires that the reflective material is to be used on each support of a crossbuck. There is no differentiation between active and passive grade crossings.

In our Notice of Proposed Amendment (expected to be in the Federal Register for comment in late March), we will be proposing text changes to clarify this Section. Therefore, we would suggest that the Montana Department of Transportation focus their initial efforts on passive crossings.

For recordkeeping purposes, we have numbered and titled your request as follows: "8-58(I)- Retroreflectorized Strip on the Back of Support Posts." Please refer to this number in any further correspondence. If there are any questions, please contact Ms. Debra Chappell at 202-366-0087.