MEHOLICK | FHWA Signs Mandate

Federal Agencies are now requiring a new standard for road signs across the United States.

The Federal Highway Administration for the first time is calling for

reflective standards for ALL road signs.

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Local governments have until January 2012 to establish a plan for sign

maintenance and replacement.

The deadline for regulatory, warning, and ground-mounted guide

signs is January 2015.

For overhead guide signs and street name signs, the deadline is

January 2018.

Standup

The reflective signs are regularly replaced on all of Portage County’s roads. And the new signs will cost 30 percent more than the old signs.

The General Superintendent of Portage County’s Engineer office, Bryan Ford explains the cuts Portage County made to accomadate these new signs.

SOT

N: WILL THERE BE ANY SERVICES OR SACRIFICES MADE TO IMPLEMENT THIS NEW PLAN.

FORD: LIKE I SAID ALREADY WE DECIDED NOT TO HIRE BACK ONE PERSON, THAT’S A JOB LOSS IN A TOUGH ECONOMY.

Losses like these show that the federal mandate does not fully support local governments with funding.

SOT [FORD]

MONEY THAT WE DON’T SPEND ON ASPHALT AND ROADS, WHETHER IT BE SIGNS OR, WHAT SHALL WE CALL IT, UNFUNDED FEDERAL MANDATE. DIRECTLY RESULTS IN WHAT WE CAN’T DO ON ROADS.

STAND UP [MEHOLICK EDWARDS]

THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION BELIEVES THESE CHANGES WILL MAKE THE ROADS SAFER AS STATED ON THEIR WEBSITE…

BUT AFTER REVIEWING CRASH REPORTS FOR THE CITY OF RAVENNA FROM JANUARY 1ST TO DECEMBER 3RD 2010 WE DISCOVERED THE SIGNS AREN’T THE PROBLEM.

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OUT OF 310 ACCIDENTS REPORTED THIS YEAR NONE OF THE DOCUMENTS STATE THAT SIGN VISIBILITY WAS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO THE ACCIDENTS.

Sign Maintenance worker Udell Groves creates many of the signs and says the reflectivity is an improvement, but says changing the size of the letters may not make that big of a difference.

SOT (GROVES)

THERE ARE SIGNS THAT ROOTSTOWN HAS, THAT ARE LIKE THIS…AND THEY HAVE BEEN THERE FOR 20 YEARS, I CAN STILL READ IT.

Portage County is working on a new plan for streets signs to meet the mandate in 2012. But Ford says since this mandate was announced, money has been spent on signs that will eventually have to come back down.

SOT (FORD)

OH, I COULD TAKE A ROUGH GUESS OF PROBABLY, IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF A 100 TO 150 BECAUSE THESE ARE JUST STREET NAME SIGNS, BUT THAT IS AT A COST OF ABOUT 35 TO 50 DOLLARS PER SIGN NOT COUNTING THE TIME AND LABOR TO PUTTING THEM UP. SO THAT IS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.

For TV2 News, I’m Kassandra Meholick.