As part of a research project on sign retroreflectivity issues, engineers from the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Traffic Operations Division visited TxDOT districts and other locations to review TxDOT signing operations practices. All 25 TxDOT districts, plus the TxDOT regional warehouse in Athens and the Texas prison sign shop at the Beto Unit were visited. At each district, the team members met individually with sign crews and maintenance supervisors, sign shop staff, area engineers, district maintenance staff, district traffic staff, and the district engineer. Each visit lasted a full day and during the visit, team members discussed a wide variety of signing issues of concern to each group they met with. This report describes the general findings of the visits and the associated recommendations.

Well-implemented public involvement programs have many potential benefits for transportation agencies including enhanced credibility with the public, decisions reflecting community values, and reduced risks of litigation (O'Connor et al., 2000). The objectives of this study included a broad assessment of the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT's) public involvement practices and the development of a public involvement "toolkit" for use by VDOT staff. The toolkit describes an array of techniques that may be used from the earliest planning stages of transportation projects through their construction, noting advantages, disadvantages, special considerations in the use of each technique, and references and website links for further reading. The assessment of VDOT's current public outreach practices included information gathering from citizens and VDOT staff. A total of 948 citizens attending several types of VDOT meetings and hearings completed written surveys that included questions about how they prefer to be notified about upcoming VDOT meetings, how they prefer to be informed about projects, and how they prefer to be updated on the status of plans or projects. Focus groups and written "self evaluation" surveys provided information on the perceptions of VDOT staff about the effectiveness of VDOT's public involvement approaches and their suggestions for improving communication with the public and public involvement. Responses to the citizen and VDOT staff surveys indicated that the public is often unclear about the steps in VDOT's planning, project development, and public involvement processes. Citizens and VDOT staff also agreed that frequent updates on project status are desirable and that the public should get more feedback about how their input is really used in decision making. VDOT staff sees a need for more strategic communications planning and evaluation for major projects and more coordinated project communications within the agency. VDOT staff also believe that broader [staff] understanding of the responsibilities of different VDOT divisions in the project development process would improve communications within VDOT. Study recommendations include the following: VDOT staff should use the toolkit and a soon-to-be released interactive public involvement tool by the Federal Highway Administration to choose effective public involvement approaches; VDOT divisions should collaborate on ways to increase the public's understanding of the planning, project development, and public involvement processes; and as soon as the state budget situation permits, the Outreach Section of VDOT's Office of Public Affairs proposed by the Governor's Commission on Transportation Policy should be staffed to provide greater in-house strategic communications planning and evaluation capability for major projects

This project was conducted to evaluate key aspects of freeway signing in Texas and develop guidelines for improving the quality and consistency of freeway signing. The major efforts of this research included an evaluation of existing freeway signing in Texas by photographing signing in several urban areas, evaluating driver information needs by conducting focus groups with freeway drivers in selected Texas cities, and developing a "Freeway Signing Handbook." The handbook is the implementation product for the research effort.

Researchers examined the impacts of various higher-conspicuity sign materials on traffic operations and behavior. A total of eight applications of microprismatic materials were evaluated: fluorescent yellow Chevrons, fluorescent yellow Chevron posts, fluorescent yellow Curve signs, fluorescent yellow Ramp Speed signs, fluorescent yellow Stop Ahead signs, fluorescent red Stop signs, flashing red light emitting diodes (LED) Stop signs, and a red border on Speed Limit signs. Researchers installed these signs at locations where it was believed that improving sign conspicuity would provide a statistically significant benefit to safety-related traffic operations. Traffic operations data collected before and after the sign upgrades included vehicle speeds, edge line encroachments, and stopping compliance.