Professional Pavement Products

Retroreflectivity

January 22, 2008 marked the start of new rules regarding traffic sign retroreflectivity. Click on the links below for more information on the new rules and about Professional Pavement Products' Handheld Sign Retroreflectometer, the 922 Handheld.

Product Information
Handheld Retroreflectometer
Information Links
Important Dates	Retroreflectivity Regulations	Other Resources

Important Dates

January 22, 2008	New rules on traffic sign retroreflectivity go into effect.
January 22, 2012	End of four-year compliance period for establishing and maintaining a sign assessment or management method to maintain minimum levels of sign retroreflectivity.
January 22, 2015	End of seven-year compliance period for regulatory, warning and ground-mounted guide signs.
January 22, 2018	End of ten-year compliance period for street name and overhead guide signs.

Minimum Maintained Retroreflectivity Levels
(in units of cd/lx/m^2 measured at an observation angle of 0.2° and an entrance angle of -4.0°)

Sign Color	Additional Criteria	Sheeting Type (ASTM D4956-04)
		Beaded Sheeting			Prismatic Sheeting
		I	II	III	III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X
White on Green	Overhead	no white approved; green > 7	no white approved; green > 15	no white approved; green > 25	white > 250; green > 25
	Ground-mounted	no white approved; green > 7	white > 120; green > 15
Black on Yellow or Black on Orange	For text and fine symbol signs measuring > 1200mm (48 in) and all bold symbol signs	no yellow/orange approved	yellow > 50; orange > 50
	For text and fine symbol signs measuring < 1200mm (48 in)	no yellow/orange approved	yellow > 75; orange > 75
White on Red	Minimum sign contrast ratio > 3:1 (white retroreflectivity / red retroreflectivity)	white > 35; red > 7
Black on White	---	white > 50

Definition of Bold Symbol Signs
Fine Symbol signs are all those not listed as Bold Symbol Signs

Bold Symbol Signs			Special Cases
W1-1,-2 Turn and Curve W1-3,-4 Reverse Turn and Curve W1-5 Winding Road W1-6,-7 Large Arrow W1-8 Chevron W1-10 Intersection in Curve W1-11 Hairpin Curve W1-15 270 Degree Loop W2-1 Cross Road W2-2,-3 Side Road W2-4,-5 T and Y Intersection W2-6 Circular Intersection W3-1 Stop Ahead	W3-2 Yield Ahead W3-3 Signal Ahead W4-1 Merge W4-2 Lane Ends W4-3 Added Lane W4-5 Entering Roadway Merge W4-6 Entering Roadway Added Lane W6-1,-2 Divided Highway Begins and Ends W6-3 Two-Way Traffic W10-1,-2,-3,-4,-11,-12 Highway-Railroad Advance Warning W11-2 Pedestrian Crossing	W11-3 Deer Crossing W11-4 Cattle Crossing W11-5 Farm Equipment W11-6 Snowmobile Crossing W11-7 Equestrian Crossing W11-8 Fire Station W11-10 Truck Crossing W12-1 Double Arrow W16-5p,-6p,-7p Pointing Arrow Plaques W20-7a Flagger W21-1a Worker	W3-1 Stop Ahead: Red retroreflectivity > 7 W3-2 Yield Ahead: Red retroreflectivity > 7; White retroreflectivity > 35 W3-3 Signal Ahead: Red retroreflectivity > 7; Green retroreflectivity > 7 W3-5 Speed Reduction: White retroreflectivity > 50 For non-diamond shaped signs such as W14-3 (No Passing Zone), W4-4 (Cross Traffic Does Not Stop) or W13-1,-2,-3,-5 (Speed Advisory Plaques), use largest sign dimension to determine proper minimum retroreflectivity level.

Above information can be located in the Federal Highway Administration's National Standards for Traffic Control Devices; the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways; Maintaining Traffic Sign Retroflectivity (23 CFR Part 655, published in the Federal Register, December 21, 2007.)

Other Resources

Federal Highway Association Final Rule Report

MUTDC

Types of Retroreflective Sign Sheeting