Meeting_Body
AD HOC CONGESTION HIGHWAY AND ROADS COMMITTEE
APRIL 11, 2018
Subject
SUBJECT: METRO EXPRESSLANES DYNAMIC MESSAGE SIGNS
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE report on Metro ExpressLanes Dynamic Message Signs.
Issue
ISSUE
At the October 2017 Ad Hoc Congestion, Highway and Roads Committee, Director Hahn expressed concern that some of the terminology/abbreviations on the ExpressLanes Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) was confusing and did not clearly communicate its intent to customers. This report addresses those concerns by sharing the results of market research and recent consultation with Caltrans.
Background
BACKGROUND
Per Title 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 655.603, all signage used on highways across the US, including the Metro ExpressLanes, must conform to the standards presented in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The MUTCD is a set of federally applied rules and guidelines governing signage treatments on public roads adopted by each State. This includes, among other things, standards and guidelines with respect to usage of color, number of words, and allowable terminology/abbreviations. For example, the adopted version of the MUTCD in California requires that the term "HOV" be used rather than "Carpool" on all state-owned facilities, including the Metro ExpressLanes.
In order to assure visibility of signage, message options for ExpressLanes' DMSs are constrained by the size of the sign themselves, as characters must be at least a certain size, placing a limit on the number of characters that can fit on a given sign. The DMSs used on the ExpressLanes can generally support messages that are no more than three lines long, and no more than 20 characters per line.
For consistency of user experience across California, precise definitions and usage are also established for the FasTrak brand by the California Toll Operators Committee (CTOC) which includes both ...
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