The main objective of this project was to determine, quantify, and present to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) alternative approaches for meeting the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) proposed minimum level of retroreflectivity for signs. This study used knowledge of the current NCDOT sign maintenance practices to synthesize a list of components and alternatives to comply with the standard. The fundamental contribution of the work lies in creating alternative methods to evaluating sign retroreflectivity to ensure compliance with a standard while minimizing the cost and labor required to do so.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 431: Practices to Manage Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity includes examples of practices that illustrate how different types of transportation agencies might meet federal retroreflectivity requirements for traffic signs.

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.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has begun a number of initiatives to improve signing on the Nation's roadways. These include workshops to obtain input from experts across the country, a review of each State's highway sign replacement and refurbishing program, and a training course. This report documents the proceedings of the workshops, one held in the Western United States and one in the Eastern United States. The workshops opened with a plenary session on Issues, Needs, and the FHWA Research Program, followed by a plenary session on Development of Minimum Requirements. The program continued with a panel discussion on Performance Standard Criteria, followed by a plenary session on Materials Selection. Breakout sessions on freeway signing, non-freeway signing, and motorist services and tourist-oriented signing completed the first day of the workshops. The second day opened with reports of the breakout sessions and continued with a plenary session on Field Assessment Techniques. A plenary session on Maintenance Procedures and Programs followed. The second day ended with breakout sessions on sign replacement methods, using contracting versus in-house and prison industries, and traffic control during sign replacement. The third day opened with reports on the previous day's breakout sessions, followed by a plenary session on Improved Inventory Techniques. The workshops closed with a Look to the Future plenary session. This report details the remarks made by the panelists and the comments and concerns of the participants on each of these issues.

TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 52: Wayfinding and Signing Guidelines for Airport Terminals and Landside is designed to provide airports with the tools necessary to help passengers find their way in and around the airport.