Pedestrian Safety - Report to Congress

August 2008

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5. Integration into National Design Guidelines

As technologies become more widely accepted and deployed, they need to be brought as close as possible to any existing applicable design guidelines. In cases where design standards do not exist for such technologies, however, national design guidelines will need to be expanded to accommodate them. The two principle owners of guidelines related to pedestrian safety are the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and FHWA.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

AASHTO is an independent transportation organization whose mission is to advocate transportation-related policies and provide technical services to support States in their efforts to provide transportation to the citizenry. As part of this mission, AASHTO provides technical guidance on a variety of transportation-related topics, including pedestrian facilities and geometric design of roadways. Within AASHTO, the Standing Committee on Highways' Subcommittee on Design has responsibility for maintaining and updating the Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Pedestrian Facilities, which is the currently recommended minimum guideline for the construction and design of sidewalks and street crossings, and A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, which provides guidance on the planning, design, and operation of pedestrian facilities along streets and highways.

In the case of incorporating newly developed advanced technologies into these guidelines, the specific technologies, after having undergone experimental deployment and study, can be brought to the attention of AASHTO by interested groups, such as professional transportation engineering organizations, State or local transportation agencies, or the FHWA. The Standing Committee on Highways, which has final approval authority for including new technologies into the established guidelines, can then opt to undertake consideration of the technologies as they emerge.

Once a new technology has been studied and the data analyzed, the draft guidelines for use are submitted for approval by the Standing Committee on Highways and then the Executive Committee. Standards and policies must be adopted by a two-thirds vote by the Member Departments (i.e., those departments or agencies of each of the States of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia in which the official transportation responsibility for that State or Territory is lodged) before publication. During the developmental process, comments are sought and considered from all the States, the Federal Highway Administration, and representatives of the American Public Works Association, the National Association of County Engineers, the National League of Cities, and other interested parties.

Federal Highway Administration

In the United States, national standards for the design, application and placement of traffic control devices are found in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which is published by the FHWA under 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 655, Subpart F.

Some technologies discussed in this report are already included in the MUTCD and have been deployed on a limited basis, including pedestrian countdown signals. These technologies have already undergone rigorous experimentation and analysis for effectiveness and safety prior to being accepted for inclusion in the MUTCD.

This process begins when a State or locality interested in deploying a new technology applies to FHWA to have the technology designated as experimental. Once experimental status has been granted, the technology is then installed on a limited basis and the State or locality conducts an evaluation of the system to determine how effective it is and what, if any, its safety impacts are. Upon successful completion of the evaluation process, the technology may be considered for inclusion in the MUTCD following the process described below.

The FHWA Process for Amending the MUTCD

If an interested party such as a State or local agency, the FHWA Office of Safety, or a professional transportation organization wishing to promote an advanced technology believes a change should be made to an existing provision in the MUTCD or that there should be a new provision added, a written request must be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Transportation Operations (HOTO). The request should be sent electronically as an attachment (PDF or Word Document) to: MUTCDofficialrequest@dot.gov. Alternatively, a letter may be sent via postal mail or delivery service to FHWA at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., HOTO-1, Washington, DC 20590.

If one or more of the advanced technologies designed to reduce pedestrian fatalities or injuries discussed in this report are considered and approved for inclusion into the AASHTO guidance or FHWA standards documents, the technology or technologies would effectively be integrated into national design guidelines.

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