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- [Announcer] Traffic control devices
help our transportation system operate efficiently
and safely.
From signs, to pavement markings,
there are numerous traffic control devices on Texas roads.
TCDs are essential for operations.
It's safe to say our roadways would be chaotic without them.
And that's why TxDOT conducted this evaluation program
on both new and existing TCDs.
- The purpose of this project
is to conduct very high priority short term evaluations
of traffic control devices.
That might not otherwise have research to look at them.
- There's national and the state standards
for traffic control devices.
But there's, there's often situations
where a standard application of the device
just isn't appropriate.
So a lot of times we're looking for kind of different ways
or new devices.
And that's exactly what this project
that they're looking at.
- We're really focusing on new applications
of existing traffic control devices or new technologies.
And it really is places that maybe don't warrant
a larger scale research project,
but we just want to test something once or twice
to see how effective it's going to be
before we implement it.
- [Doug] We've got districts
using wider pavement markings out there.
Traditionally, we use four inch pavement markings
but we were wanting consistency across the state.
So we had the researchers look into it.
What's out there.
What are the safety benefits?
When and where should they be used?
And then they put together guidance document for us.
And that's something we can implement across the state.
It was a quick turnaround.
And, you know, it could be a multi-year research project,
to look at something like this,
but we needed something relatively quickly to implement.
- Decades ago.
How we would warn the driver
about a pedestrian crossing
is we would put out a yellow beacon that would flash 24/7.
And we found them to be very ineffective.
Drivers ignored these warning devices.
It just faded into the background
of the driving environment.
So we needed something
that would capture the driver's attention
and having devices that are only active
when the pedestrian pushes the button,
helps fill that need.
- [Doug] We really like this project.
We've got issues that come up all the time
and we're able to take it to the researchers.
And a lot of times
they're able to to fit it into their schedule and budget.
And we get answers to the questions.
- [Announcer] For more information
and to find the publications for this project
please visit the TxDOT research library
at the link shown below.