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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5.C.1. Traffic sign retroreflectivity policy adoption - Res. No. 7522 Consent Business 5• C. 1. St-lAK0F E TO: Mayor and City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: Christine Lusian, Administrative Assistant DATE: 12/16/2014 SUBJECT: Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy Adoption - Res No. 7522. (A, B, E) Action Sought Adopt a Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy. Background The Federal Highway Administration and the State of Minnesota adopted policies for minimum standards for sign retroreflectivity and replacement. The City must comply with retroreflectivity standards and create a policy for the management and planned replacement of traffic control signs. All agencies, including cities, who maintain roadways open to public travel must adopt a sign maintenance program designed to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity at or above specific levels. By adopting this policy the City will be in compliance with state and federal regulations and will significantly reduce tort liability lawsuits involving traffic signs. "Retroreflectivity" describes how light is reflected from a surface and returned to its original source. Traffic signs are made with retroreflective sign sheeting material that redirects headlamp illumination back toward the vehicle, thereby making the sign visible at nighttime to the vehicle driver. Improvements to nighttime visibility of traffic signs will help drivers better navigate roads at night and thus promote safety and mobility. Improvements in sign visibility will also help older drivers whose visual capabilities may be declining. The retroreflective properties of all sign sheeting materials degrade over time making signs progressively less visible at night. As signs degrade and become less retroreflective, their effectiveness in communicating regulatory, warning, and guidance messages to road users at nighttime diminishes to the point that they cannot be seen or read in time for the driver to react properly. Thus, to maintain nighttime effectiveness, signs should be replaced before they reach the end of their useful life. City Public Works staff have been actively cataloging and replacing signs since 2007. This policy will memorialize our current practice. The priority of sign replacement has been geographical in nature and then broken down by regulatory, warning, and guide type signs. Recommendation Staff recommends adopting the attached Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity policy. Budget Impact There is no fiscal impact to the adoption of this policy as the City currently is engaged with budgeted evaluation and replacement of signs in the community. Replacement by expected life and blanket replacement is the lowest cost approach for the city to meeting the new retroreflective requirements. Relationship to Vision A. Keep Shakopee a safe and healthy community where residents can pursue active and quality lifestyles. B. Positively manage the challenges and opportunities presented by growth development and change. E. Deliver effective and efficient public services by a staff of well-trained caring and professional employees. Requested Action The Council is asked to offer Resolution 7522, a resolution adopting a Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy and move its adoption. Attachments: Resolution 7522 Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy RESOLUTION NO. 7522 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING A TRAFFIC SIGN RETROREFLECTIVITY POLICY BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SHAKOPEE,MINNESOTA, that the Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity Policy, dated December 16, 2014, attached hereto and made a part hereof, is hereby adopted. Adopted in session of the City Council of the City of Shakopee, Minnesota,held this day of ,2014. Mayor of the City of Shakopee ATTEST: City Clerk SHAKOPEE SIGN RETROREFLECTIVITY POLICY CITY OF SHAKOPEE INTRODUCTION The City of Shakopee has a roadway sign inventory in which a sign retroreflectivity maintenance program was implemented to ensure that the minimum retroreflectivity levels, as determined by the Federal Highway Administration(FHWA),will be maintained to the best of the City's ability. Retroreflectivity refers to the property of an object to reflect light back to the source. In this case, retroreflective traffic sign sheeting is used to reflect light from a vehicle's headlamps back to the driver's eyes, thus increasing the sign visibility at night. Retroreflective traffic sign sheeting is created using tiny glass beads or prismatic reflectors, which has been developed to reflect light. Maintaining traffic sign retroreflectivity is increasingly getting more important as the older driver population increases. Therefore FHWA recently adopted language that requires all agencies that maintain roadways open to the traveling public to adopt a sign maintenance program which is designed to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity at or above specific levels. I. PURPOSE AND GOAL The purpose of this policy is to establish how the City will implement an assessment or management method, or combination of methods, to meet the minimum sign retroreflectivity requirements in the Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MN MUTCD). Substantial conformance with the MN MUTCD is achieved by having a method in place to maintain minimum retroreflectivity levels. Conformance does not require or guarantee that every individual sign in the City will meet or exceed the minimum retroreflective levels at every point in time. The goal of this policy is to improve public safety on the City's streets and roads and prioritize the City's limited resources to replace signs. II. UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR SIGNS FHWA establishes basic standards for signs as found in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has established their own(MN MUTCD)policy for traffic control on all public streets, road and highways with the State of Minnesota. Most of the text, figures and tables are identical to the Federal MUTCD, while others have been modified to meet state laws, or to more closely prioritize the City's limited resources to replace signs. III. APPLICABLE SIGNS This policy applies to all regulatory,warning, and guide signs as set forth in the MN MUTCD. Pursuant to Section 2A.8 of the MN MUTCD the City excludes the following signs from the retroreflectivity maintenance guidelines: A. Parking, Standing, and Stopping signs (R7 and R8 series) B. Walking/Hitchhiking/Crossing signs (R9 series, R10-1 through R10-4b) C. Acknowledgment signs, including Memorial signs D. All signs with blue or brown backgrounds E. Bikeway signs that are intended for exclusive use by bicyclists or pedestrians] IV. RESOURCE MATERIALS The City has reviewed and relied on numerous resources in adopting this policy. These resource materials include,but are not limited to the following: • Methods for Maintaining Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity, Publication No. FHWA-HRT-08- 026,U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration(November 2007). • Sign Retroreflectivity Guidebook, Publication No. FHWA-CFL/TD-09-005,U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration(September 2009). • Sign Retroreflectivity:A Minnesota Toolkit, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Local Road Research Board(June 2010). • Traffic Sign Maintenance/Management Handbook, Report No. 2010RIC 10,Version 1.1, Minnesota Department of Transportation (October 2010). • LMCIT Sign Retroreflectivity Memo and Model Policy, League of Minnesota Cities (Final Edition,March 2014). V. SIGN INVENTORY To meet the City's goal of maintaining sign retroreflectivity above certain levels, the City will maintain a sign inventory of all new or replacement signs installed after the effective date of this policy. The inventory shall indicate the type of sign, the location of the sign, the date of installation or replacement,the type of sheeting material used on the sign face,the expected life of the sign, and any maintenance performed on the sign. As to existing signs,the City will perform an inventory of all signs covered by this policy. The City recognizes this process will occur over time subject to the City's monetary and human resources. The City completed its sign inventory in 2007. The City shall record the above information related to new signs to the extent that such information is known and shall also include a statement on the general condition of the sign. 12162014 City of Shakopee Sign Retroreflectivity Policy Page 2 of 4 VI.REMOVAL OF SIGNS In recognition of the fact that excess road signs have been shown to reduce the effectiveness of signage, as well as impose an unnecessary financial burden on road authorities, it is the City's policy to remove signs determined to be unnecessary for safety purposes and which are not required to comply with an applicable state or federal statute or regulation. The removal of signs shall be based on an engineering study and the MN MUTCD. VII. APPROVED SIGN EVALUATION METHOD After reviewing the various methods proposed for sign maintenance,the City adopts one or more of the following methods to meet the minimum sign retroreflectivity requirements in the MN MUTCD: • Expected Sign Life. The installation date is labeled or recorded when a sign is installed, so that the age of any given sign is known. The age of the sign is compared to the expected sign life. The expected sign life is based on the experience of sign retroreflectivity degradation in the City. Signs older than the expected life will be replaced. ® Blanket Replacement. All signs in the City of a given type are replaced at specified intervals. This eliminates the need to assess retroreflectivity or track the life of individual signs. The replacement interval is based on the expected sign life for the shortest-life material used in the City or a given sign type. VIII. SIGN REPLACEMENT The City hereby establishes the following priority order in which road signs will be replaced: • First priority shall be given to replacing all signs determined not to meet applicable retroreflectivity standards. Top priority shall also be given to replacing missing or damaged signs determined to be of a priority for safety purposes. • Second priority shall be given to signs determined to be marginal in their retroreflectivity evaluation. • Third priority shall be given to all remaining signs as they come to the end of their anticipated service life,become damaged, etc. In addition,within each category above, further priority shall be given to warning and regulatory signs on roads with higher vehicle usage. After the initial replacement of signs as provided for in this Article or the installation of new signs, the City shall, for the purpose of complying with the requirements of the MN MUTCD, maintain minimum retroreflectivity standards, as budgetary factors allow,by replacing signs as they reach the end of the latter of their(a)warranty period; (b)expected life expectancy for the sheeting material used on the sign; or(c) expected life as determined by an authorized engineering study. 12162014 City of Shakopee I Sign Retroreflectivity Policy Page 3 of 4 Damaged, stolen, or missing signs may be replaced as needed. IX. MODIFICATION AND DEVIATION FROM POLICY The City reserves the right to modify this Sign Retroreflectivity Policy at any time if deemed to be in the best interests of the City based on safety, social,political and economic considerations. The Director of Public Works, or his or her designee, may authorize a deviation from the implementation of this policy in regard to a particular sign when deemed to be in the best interests of the City based on safety, social, political and economic considerations. Such deviation shall be documented including the reason for the deviation and other information supporting the deviation. 12162014 City of Shakopee I Sign Retroreflectivity Policy Page 4 of 4