NCHRP Report 494 – Structural Supports for Highway Signs ...

1 Structural Supports for Highway Signs , Luminaires, and Traffic SignalsNATIONALCOOPERATIVE HIGHWAYRESEARCH PROGRAMNCHRPREPORT 494 TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2003 (Membership as of March 2003)OFFICERSC hair:Genevieve Giuliano, Director and Professor, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, University of Southern California,Los AngelesVice Chair:Michael S. Townes, Executive Director, Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads, Hampton, VA Executive Director:Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board MEMBERSMICHAEL W. BEHRENS, Executive Director, Texas DOTJOSEPH H. BOARDMAN, Commissioner, New York State DOTSARAH C. CAMPBELL, President, TransManagement, Inc., Washington, DCE. DEAN CARLSON, Secretary of Transportation, Kansas DOTJOANNE F. CASEY, President, Intermodal Association of North AmericaJAMES C. CODELL III, Secretary, Kentucky Transportation CabinetJOHN L. CRAIG, Director, Nebraska Department of RoadsBERNARD S. GROSECLOSE, JR.

2 , President and CEO, South Carolina State Ports AuthoritySUSAN HANSON, Landry University Professor of Geography, Graduate School of Geography, Clark UniversityLESTER A. HOEL, L. A. Lacy Distinguished Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of VirginiaHENRY L. HUNGERBEELER, Director, Missouri DOTADIB K. KANAFANI, Cahill Professor and Chairman, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley RONALD F. KIRBY, Director of Transportation Planning, Metropolitan Washington Council of GovernmentsHERBERT S. LEVINSON, Principal, Herbert S. Levinson Transportation Consultant, New Haven, CTMICHAEL D. MEYER, Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of TechnologyJEFF P. MORALES, Director of Transportation, California DOTKAM MOVASSAGHI, Secretary of Transportation, Louisiana Department of Transportation and DevelopmentCAROL A. MURRAY, Commissioner, New Hampshire DOTDAVID PLAVIN, President, Airports Council International, Washington, DCJOHN REBENSDORF, Vice President, Network and Service Planning, Union Pacific Railroad Co.

3 , Omaha, NECATHERINE L. ROSS, Executive Director, Georgia Regional Transportation AgencyJOHN M. SAMUELS, Senior Vice President-Operations Planning & support , Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, VAPAUL P. SKOUTELAS, CEO, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, PAMARTIN WACHS, Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California at BerkeleyMICHAEL W. WICKHAM, Chairman and CEO, Roadway Express, Inc., Akron, OHMIKE ACOTT, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association (ex officio)MARION C. BLAKEY, Federal Aviation Administrator, (ex officio)REBECCA M. BREWSTER, President and CEO, American Transportation Research Institute, Atlanta, GA (ex officio)THOMAS H. COLLINS (Adm., Coast Guard), Commandant, Coast Guard(ex officio)JENNIFER L. DORN, Federal Transit Administrator, (ex officio)ELLEN G. ENGLEMAN, Research and Special Programs Administrator, (ex officio)ROBERT B. FLOWERS (Lt. Gen., Army), Chief of Engineers and Commander, Army Corps of Engineers(ex officio)HAROLD K.

4 FORSEN, Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Engineering(ex officio)EDWARD R. HAMBERGER, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads(ex officio)JOHN C. HORSLEY, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials(ex officio)MICHAEL P. JACKSON, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, (ex officio)ROGER L. KING, Chief Applications Technologist, National Aeronautics and Space Administration(ex officio)ROBERT S. KIRK, Director, Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies, Department of Energy (ex officio)RICK KOWALEWSKI, Acting Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, (ex officio)WILLIAM W. MILLAR, President, American Public Transportation Association(ex officio) MARY E. PETERS, Federal Highway Administrator, (ex officio)SUZANNE RUDZINSKI, Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Environmental Protection Agency(ex officio)JEFFREY W. RUNGE, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, (ex officio)ALLAN RUTTER, Federal Railroad Administrator, (ex officio)ANNETTE M.

5 SANDBERG, Deputy Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (ex officio)WILLIAM G. SCHUBERT, Maritime Administrator, (ex officio)NATIONAL COOPERATIVE Highway RESEARCH PROGRAMT ransportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for NCHRPGENEVIEVE GIULIANO,University of Southern California, Los Angeles(Chair)E. DEAN CARLSON, Kansas DOTLESTER A. HOEL,University of VirginiaJOHN C. HORSLEY,American Association of State Highway andTransportation Officials MARY E. PETERS, Federal Highway Administration ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR.,Transportation Research BoardMICHAEL S. TOWNES, Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads, Hampton, VATRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARDWASHINGTON, NATIONAL COOPERATIVE Highway RESEARCH PROGRAMNCHRP Report 494 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway AdministrationSUBJECTAREASB ridges, Other Structures, and Hydraulics and HydrologyStructural Supports for Highway Signs , Luminaires, and Traffic SignalsFOUADH.

6 FOUADJAMESS. DAVIDSONNORBERTDELATTEELIZABETHA. CALVERTSHEN-ENCHENEDGARNUNEZRAMYABDALLAT HEUNIVERSITY OFALABAMA ATBIRMINGHAMB irmingham, ALNATIONAL COOPERATIVE Highway RESEARCH PROGRAMS ystematic, well-designed research provides the most effectiveapproach to the solution of many problems facing highwayadministrators and engineers. Often, Highway problems are of localinterest and can best be studied by Highway departmentsindividually or in cooperation with their state universities andothers. However, the accelerating growth of Highway transportationdevelops increasingly complex problems of wide interest tohighway authorities. These problems are best studied through acoordinated program of cooperative recognition of these needs, the Highway administrators of theAmerican Association of State Highway and TransportationOfficials initiated in 1962 an objective national Highway researchprogram employing modern scientific techniques.

7 This program issupported on a continuing basis by funds from participatingmember states of the Association and it receives the full cooperationand support of the Federal Highway Administration, United StatesDepartment of Transportation Research Board of the National Academieswas requested by the Association to administer the researchprogram because of the Board s recognized objectivity andunderstanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquelysuited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committeestructure from which authorities on any Highway transportationsubject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications andcooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies,universities, and industry; its relationship to the National ResearchCouncil is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-timeresearch correlation staff of specialists in Highway transportationmatters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are ina position to use program is developed on the basis of research needsidentified by chief administrators of the Highway and transportationdepartments and by committees of AASHTO.

8 Each year, specificareas of research needs to be included in the program are proposedto the National Research Council and the Board by the AmericanAssociation of State Highway and Transportation projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, andqualified research agencies are selected from those that havesubmitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of researchcontracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Counciland the Transportation Research needs for Highway research are many, and the NationalCooperative Highway Research Program can make significantcontributions to the solution of Highway transportation problems ofmutual concern to many responsible groups. The program,however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for orduplicate other Highway research :The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, theNational Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the AmericanAssociation of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individualstates participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program donot endorse products or manufacturers.

9 Trade or manufacturers names appearherein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE Highway RESEARCH PROGRAMare available from:Transportation Research BoardBusiness Office500 Fifth Street, NWWashington, DC 20001and can be ordered through the Internet at: in the United States of AmericaNCHRP Report 494 Project G17-10(2) FY 98 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 0-309-08753-8 Library of Congress Control Number 2003106593 2003 Transportation Research BoardPrice $ project that is the subject of this Report was a part of the National CooperativeHighway Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with theapproval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approvalreflects the Governing Board s judgment that the program concerned is of nationalimportance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of theNational Research members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to reviewthis Report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with dueconsideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project.

10 The opinions andconclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed theresearch, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee,they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the NationalResearch Council, the American Association of State Highway and TransportationOfficials, or the Federal Highway Administration, Department of Report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committeeaccording to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation ResearchBoard Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished schol-ars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and techni-cal matters.