HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution No. 036-12 V{
• RESOLUTION
BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council of the City of Rochester that the City adopt
the "City of Rochester Signs, Traffic Signals, Traffic Markings, Pavement Striping & Retro-
reflectivity Guidelines." A copy of the policy is attached.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA, THIS DAY F (l tZG, , 2012.
IDENT OF SAID COMMON COUNCIL
ATTEST:
ITY CLERK
APPROVED THIS / AY DAY OF �� , 2012.
•
MAYOR OF SAID CITY
(Seal of the City of
Rochester, Minnesota)
Resl MdoptTrafContDevice
•
City of Rochester, MN
G-At S T.P4
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Signs, Traffic Signals,
Traffic Markings,
Pavement Striping
& Retro-reflectivity
Guidelines
January 18, 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
•
Page
I. Purpose 1
U. Objectives 1
III. Procedures 1
IV. Sign Replacement Program 1
V. Traffic Signals 5
VI. Pavement Markings 6
•
Appendix
Attachment A Sign Replacement District Map (map)
Attachment B Traffic Signal Repair Responsibility(map)
•
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of the City of Rochester "Signs, Traffic Signals, Traffic Markings, Pavement
Striping &Retro-reflectivity Guidelines" is to establish and maintain uniform practices
concerning traffic maintenance operations on city roadways.
II. OBJECTIVES
The city will provide traffic operations maintenance in a safe and cost-effective manner
balancing the needs of safety for road users and pedestrians with city personnel,
budget, and social, economic and environmental concerns. It is in the cities best
interest to have traffic operations and maintenance procedures. Because of variables
in weather,traffic issues, changing driver demographics, road design, standards, budgetary
constraints, and other factors, these procedures must remain flexible. The city may use city
employees or other entities under contract to provide this service.
The practical extent of these maintenance kuidelines will be established yearly through the
budgetary allotment within the City's Capital Improvement Proprant for these activities.
There are line items for Sign Replacement,Durable Pavement Markings, Replacement of Old
Traffic Signals, Traffic Signal Painting,Audible Pedestrian Push Button Installation (to meet
ADA requirements), Traffic Siynal Optimization, and replacement for Traffic Signal
Components (signal indications, battery back-up components, and traffic signal
controllers/cabinets) The budget will,govern the extent to which the requirements for these
• items can be addresser.
III. PROCEDURES
Under the direction of the Director of Public Works, City Engineer, Assistant City
Engineer or City Traffic Engineer, maintenance operations managers (Operations Manager,
Superintendents, Supervisors or designated lead workers)will make decisions concerning
scheduling and the procedures to be followed for daily traffic operation,maintenance needs and
associated periodic and yearly/bi-yearly detailed condition inspections. Scheduling and the
procedures to be followed will be based upon consideration of the following factors: budget,
significance of the traffic device to driver safety, condition and effectiveness of the device,
standards compliance and whether damage or condition creates an immediate safety hazard.
In every instance, the onsite maintenance employee or sign maintenance technician must assess
the conditions of the traffic control device and rely on judgment and experience to determine the
correct action to correct problems with or maintain the device. Factors that may delay
completion of traffic operation maintenance include budget limitations, other repair needs,
utility locates, fabrication or procurement of necessary materials, weather conditions including
severe cold, limited access, significant winds, limited visibility and other staff and field condition
issues.
IV. SIGN REPLACEMENT PROGRAM
In February 2008, language adopted in the MMMUTCD requires all agencies that maintain
roadways open to public travel to adopt a Sign Maintenance Program designed to maintain the
traffic sign reflectivity at specific levels. Each jurisdiction shall use an assessment or
management method this is designed to maintain sign reflectivity at or above the minimum levels
established in the MMMUTCD. The compliance dates for this mandate were as follows;
January 2008—New reflectivity requirements become effective in the Federal MMUTCD
February 2008—These new requirements are added to the Minnesota MMUTCD
January 2012—All agencies must establish a traffic sign maintenance program
January 2015 —All agencies MUST comply with the new retro-reflectivity requirements
for ALL regulatory signs,ALL warning signs, and post mounted guide signs.
January 2018. —All agencies MUST comply with the new retro-reflectivity requirements
for ALL overhead signs and, ALL street name signs.
In the fall of 2011, The Federal Highway Administration eliminated some of the required
compliance dates, but they did not eliminate the requirement to eventually meet the retro-
reflectivity requirements for all roadway signs. The retro-reflectivity compliance is now
intended to be met through a systematic sign replacement program. As such,the deadline
requirement to establish a traffic sign maintenance program was not changed. This required
document is intended to guide public agencies to develop a process, with funding consideration,
to bring the existing roadway signing into compliance with current"message" and"reflectivity"
standards; the deadline to have this program established is January 20, 2012.
This summer the City completed the field inventory for the majority of signing on Rochester
City streets, and a summary of those signs in listed below. The signing located on overhead
structures and in alleys still needs to be collected; the number of those signs has been estimated
in the summary. The sign inventory information has been incorporated into the ArcMap data
base and contains information concerning the sign type, year of installation, sign material, facing
direction,post support, and sign condition.
Type of sign Number of signs Comments
Roadside signs 15,288
Street Name signs 10,000 Estimated number
Overhead signs 600 Estimated number
Alley signs 100 Estimated number
Total 25,988
The total signing within Rochester equates to an average sign density of approximately 52 signs
per mile on the Rochester street system. Since the average cost per sign installation is estimated
to be$200 per installation, the cost for total sign replacement within Rochester is roughly
$5,197,600. With the proposed 12 year rotation to accomplish this replacement, an annual
budget for sign replacement would need to be $433,000 plus an estimated$20,000 to $30,000
for damaged and vandalized signs. In an effort to reduce this cost, the following
recommendations should be considered for incorporation into the program;
1. Reduce the number of signs in the inventory through removal of unnecessary and
unwarranted signing.
2. Leave signs in place that are newer than 3 years old.
3. Salvage for reuse signs that are between 3 and 6 years old in these districts during
replacement activity.
Sign Maintenance Approach
A. Sign Installation: Signs will be installed and maintained to meet federal standards set
forth in the most recent Minnesota Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
(MnMUTCD) in accordance with City of Rochester guidelines, standard installation plate
and practices and as may be allowed within the City's annual budget.
B. Maintain Signing, Overall Responsibility: Rochester sign maintenance practices are
established to meet all requirements and ensure appropriate signing for the traveling
public.
C. Sign Retro-Reflectivity: The City of Rochester has maintained a field sign inventory
database of signs installed in the form of a sign management system (software) since
2006. The city is currently completing the inventory of all existing signs and is evaluating
the database to determine the best management approach to bring our signing into
compliance within a reasonable period of time.
The City of Rochester will use a combination of EXPECTED SIGN LIFE and
BLANKET REPLACEMENT as management methods.
1. Expected Sign Life: Expected sign life processes/practices will be established
utilizing a combination of expected sheeting warranty life estimations of
manufacturers/suppliers and"on the ground" experience in the field at the city.
The city will develop and update as needed general criteria for life cycle
replacement of signs within the zones targeted for Blanket Replacement.
a)The City has been installing 3M High Intensity Prismatic (HIP) sheeting
signs since 2006 and uses 3M Diamond Grade 3 (DG3) sheeting for
school, pedestrian, and RR signs. A system wide evaluation and inventory
of the existing signs in Rochester has been underway for 2 years and was
substantially completed this summer. Although not yet completed,
enough information has been gathered to frame our process and
anticipated needs. The City sign staff will likely need to be supplemented
with contracted sign installation during the next several years in an effort
to bring some of the worst signing around the City to an acceptable level
while it awaits replacement through the district sign replacement rotation.
Some of the 2012 and 2013 cost for bad sign replacement throughout the
• City wide effort could be mitigated through the re-use of the signs that are
6 years or newer removed from District 2.
b) Since much of Rochester has mature trees and most signs are
sheltered from direct sunlight, the City expects many of its signs to have
acceptable levels of reflectivity for the full listed sheeting warranty life
expectation(independent of the direction the sign is facing) and will
assume the Expected Sign Life estimates listed in the following table;
Sign Material Life Expectancy
Engineering Grade 8 years
HI or HIP 12 years
VIP or DG3 12 years
2. Blanket Replacement: The use of this approach eliminates the need to annually
assess the retro-reflectivity of the City's signing and try to manage a City wide
sign replacement program each year. Since the warranty period for the DG3 sign
material is 12 years, a replacement program is proposed in which the City has
been divided into 12 areas for blanket sign installation with a 12-year rotation (the
map showing the Sign District areas is in the appendix as Attachment A). Any
signs that have been installed for 3 years or less within the area undergoing the
blanket replace will be left in place. Signs removed from that area that are
between 3 and 6 years old, and in good condition, will be salvaged and used for
the replacement of future damaged signing, or used during the first two years to
replace unacceptable signs identified throughout the City. If there are
• considerable hud,-etary constraints, the signing effort will be directed toward
the replacement of the unacceptable signs that have been identified which have
the highest safety implications.
3. Sign Management Plan: In an effort to manage the sign inventory in the field and
reduce replacement costs,the City will attempt to reduce the number of
unnecessary and unwarranted signing that currently exists. These signs will be
identified and eliminated as the signing replacement activities proceed for each
Sign District. The City currently has over 100 different parking restriction signs
in this inventory; an attempt will be made to reduce this number by establishing a
standard message for similar conditions.
D. Sign Maintenance Responsibility: The City has a responsibility to maintain roadway
signs and street identification signs on all City of Rochester roadways, with the exception
of:
a. Signage on approaches to county highways are not installed or maintained by the
city. Street name signs and stop signs intersecting with Olmsted County
Highways are maintained by Olmsted county.
b. Stop signs at Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) controlled
intersections and highway ramps with state/county highways.
c. Specific signs installed by others; Mn/DOT,transit agencies, and private signs as
agreed upon by the City of Rochester.
• d. Signs along County highways,within Mn/DOT right of way, unless specific
agreements with Mn/DOT/Olmsted County stipulates a city maintenance
responsibility for signing.
e. Bike path and other pedestrian-control signs installed by government entities
other than the City.
• f. Driveway and business entrance approaches to city streets which are the
responsibility or private businesses and/or property owners.
g. Signs on private property or within Associations.
E. Response to Incident Report for Sign Repair Needs: Sign maintenance staff will respond
after receiving notice of damage or vandalism to determine the appropriate action with
the following priorities:
a. Stop sign: as soon as practical,no later than one business day, a temporary stop
sign will be placed if required.
b. Other regulatory signs: no later than three business days.
c. Warning signs: within one scheduled workday.
d. Informational/guidance signs: as soon as scheduling/delivery permits
F. Miscellaneous Sign Practices:
a. The sign staff contract does not include "on-call" status. In some cases the sign
staff is called to make repairs or temporary installations after normal working
hours, but this is not a job requirement and their availability is not guaranteed.
b. Annual training is provided to ensure sign maintenance staff can perform sign
maintenance duties in an efficient, effective and responsive manner. Such
training shall consist of, at a minimum, appropriate signing and traffic control
seminars (when available and funds are available in the city training budget),
• appropriate available training videos or website trainings, and'training as
appropriate and available for supervisors.
c. Unauthorized signs will be removed from city rights of way.
d. Support staff will be informed and updated regarding sign maintenance operations
(e.g., schedules and other priority needs or equipment failures)to ensure accurate
information is available to respond to telephone inquiries.
e. Sign staff may park a sign maintenance vehicle against traffic flow in order to
perform necessary emergency and routine maintenance duties.
f. Sign staff may drive or park maintenance vehicles on the center medians or
boulevards in order to perform necessary emergency and routine maintenance
duties.
V. TRAFFIC SIGNALS
There are 144 traffic signals within the City of Rochester, for which the ownership/maintenance
responsibility is broken down as follows; 32 for MnDOT, and 112 for Rochester(the City
maintains 43 signals for which Olmsted County has joint ownership). 126 of these signals are
interconnected to the Traffic Operations Building, all signals have "Emergency Vehicle Pre-
emption", 4 signals have Railroad Pre-emption, and 17 signals at critical locations have a battery
back-up power system which keeps these signals operational when electrical power goes down.
• A. Miscellaneous Signal Practices:
a. The responsibility for signal maintenance and repair within the.City has been
divided between the City and MnDOT staff. MnDOT is responsible for 33
signals; primarily the older signals on TH 14, TH 63 and most of the TH 52
interchange signals. A map showing the Traffic Signal Repair Responsibility is
contained in the Appendix as Attachment B.
b. City Traffic Signal Technicians will respond to reports of signal damage or
malfunctions as soon as possible after notification. After hour's phone numbers
for the City and MnDOT Signal Technicians are available to the Law
Enforcement Center dispatchers (along with the Repair Responsibility Map) so
the appropriate repair staff can be contacted in case of an emergency.
c. On occasion the MnDOT staff is unavailable to respond to make the repairs. An
agreement has been reached whereby the City staff will respond to make the
repairs to the MnDOT signals and will later bill MnDOT for the time and
materials needed for those repairs.
d. The City will provide temporary stop signs for dark signals when they cannot be
reactivated in a timely manner.
B. Routine Maintenance: The Traffic Signal Technicians will perform yearly maintenance,
equipment inspections, and equipment testing as follows.
a. Fall winterization of the signal cabinet, testing of pedestrian push buttons, and
general equipment review.
b. Spring open vents on the cabinets and general equipment condition review.
c. Summer test all signal conflict monitors
d. Lens cleaning for cameras and testing of EVP detectors.
e. Annually test the RR pre-emption equipment for signals on Civic Center Drive
(coordinate with CN RR and MnDOT) (October time frame).
f. Annually test the battery back-up systems; replace batteries every 5 years (these
systems were installed in 2009 and 2010)
g. Replace LED indications every 10 years (red LED indications are undergoing
replacement in 2011 and 2012,the green and yellow indications were installed in
2006)
h. Repaint 8 to 10 signal systems yearly as budget allows. The City is installing
galvanized poles for new signal construction to minimize this maintenance cost.
C. Gopher State One Call Cable Locate Responsibility:
a. The City has the responsibility to locate their equipment within 52 hours of
notification for any underground work within the City limits. However, there are
some emergency situations that require immediate response. In 2010 the City
Signal department received over 10,000 locate notices, for which a field locate
was required for approximately 800 sites.
b. The City signal technicians provide locates for the underground conduit and
wiring for the traffic signals and the City's fiber optic system. Coordination is
made between the traffic section and RPU for areas where we have fiber facilities
in common.
D. Signal Timing, Coordination, and Corridor Optimization:
a. The City traffic office has a goal of reviewing and retiming the traffic signals on a
5-year program. As the budget situation limits this work, the primary corridors
have become the focus of these yearly efforts.
b. The City has taken a progressive approach to Pedestrian crossings within the City.
The signals are all equipped with pedestrian countdown timers to provide as much
information to the pedestrians as possible,Audible Pedestrian Systems were
installed at several locations within the CBD prior to that becoming a requirement
in the MMUTCD, and the pedestrian walk time of 3.5' per second for crossing
time calculations was also in use in Rochester before that has become a
requirement in the MMUTCD.
VI. Pavement Markings: The City Engineering staff reviewed the pavement markings, striping,
and crosswalks for location, material type, and condition and placed the information into the
ArcMap program to assist in the management of this asset. As with the signing,MnDOT has
established minimum reflectivity standards for pavement markings.
A. Pavement Striping Survey:
a. At the beginning of each construction season, the Streets Striping
Technician/Street Superintendent shall review the conditions of city crosswalks
and pavement striping.
b. All pavement markings that need refreshing will be identified and contract
pavement painters will be secured and directed to refresh as needed for streets
above 6,000 AADT, and the City forces for the streets between 3,000 and 6,000
AADT.
c. In the event of limited funding,the city will assure that pavement markings meet
standard requirements for retro-reflectivity(and clarity) at a minimum.
B. Pavement Marking Practices:
a. The striping on City streets has been categorized in accord with the traffic volume
to determine a striping schedule and material to best meet the striping needs
within the available budget;
i. AADT over 6,000 will be striped with epoxy on a 3 year rotation, or as
needed to meet the visibility/reflectivity criteria.
ii. AADT between 3,000 and 6,000 will be striped with the city equipment on
an as needed basis, assumed to be every year or two.
iii. AADT under 3,000 will not be striped
iv. Streets over 6,000 AADT that are scheduled to be reconstructed within the
3 year life expectancy for epoxy will instead be striped with the city
equipment.
b. The epoxy material is placed by contractors with bids received for the anticipated
work each season. In an effort to increase the longevity of the markings, the long
lines are being recessed by grinding the pavement when the budget allows. When
recessed markings are placed, wet reflective beads will be applied with the
striping.
c. The City is in the process of marking the school crosswalks with thermoplastic
material to enhance their visibility and increase their longevity (the thermo plastic
is expected to last 7 to 10 years). In 2011, thermoplastic was used for 29
crosswalks installations (a map of these locations is in J6374-2011).
d. City roadways scheduled to be seal coated may be omitted from the epoxy
pavement striping as agreed upon. City striping would be placed on these streets
• to meet the standards until the epoxy is again placed.
e. Epoxy paint shall be installed following overlays/new construction. Epoxy
typically will not be refreshed prior to the first sealcoat which is most commonly
applied at 5 years.
f. Latex paint will commonly be used following sealcoats and chip seals for a two
year period before epoxy is again applied.
C. Bike Lane Striping
a. As streets above 3,000 AADT are reconstructed or receive new surfacing, they
will be reviewed for compatibility with the ROCOG Bike Route Plan to determine
if bike lane striping should be placed. The City Director and Planning Director
will conduct this review and make the determination.
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