Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices: Difference between revisions

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Government action to begin resolving the wide variety of signage that had cropped up did not occur until the late 1910s and early 1920s when groups from Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin began surveying existing road signs in order to develop road signage standards. They reported their findings to the Mississippi Valley Association of Highway Departments, which adopted their suggestions in 1922 for the shapes to be used for road signs. These suggestions included the familiar circular railroad crossing sign and octagonal stop sign.<ref name="Johnson">{{cite magazine |last1 = Johnson |first1 = A.E. |editor1-last = Johnson |editor1-first = A.E. |title = A Story of Road Signing |magazine = American Association of State Highway Officials: A Story of the Beginning, Purposes, Growth, Activities, and Achievements of AASHO |date = 1965 |pages = 129–138 |publisher = American Association of State Highway Officials |___location = Washington, DC }}</ref>

In January 1925, [[Thomas Harris MacDonald]], chief of the federal [[Bureau of Public Roads]], published an article in which he argued that developing highway transportation in the United States to the "highest degree" would require five major innovations. Among them were "uniform markings and signs" and a "uniform color code".<ref name="MacDonald">{{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=Thomas H. |title=The Urgent Necessity for Uniform Traffic Laws and Public Safety Devices |journal=American Highways |date=January 1925 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=5-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z933iSTZIUUC&pg=RA7-PA7}} (At p. 7.)</ref>

In January 1927, the [[American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials|American Association of State Highway Officials]] (AASHO) published the ''Manual and Specifications for the Manufacture, Display, and Erection of U.S. Standard Road Markers and Signs'' to set standards for traffic control devices used on rural roads.<ref name="NCHRPReport484">{{cite book |last1 = Hawkins |first1 = H. Gene |last2 = Parham |first2 = Angelia H. |last3 = Womack |first3 = Katie N. |title = NCHRP Report 484: Feasibility Study for an All-White Pavement Marking System |date = 2002 |publisher = Transportation Research Board |___location = Washington, DC |pages = A-1—A-7 |url = http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_484.pdf |access-date = August 10, 2020 |chapter = Appendix A: Evolution of U.S. Pavement Marking System }}</ref> Despite the title, this manual did not have any guidance on pavement markings.<ref name="NCHRPReport484"/> In the archaic [[American English]] of the 1920s, the term "road marker" was sometimes used to describe traffic control devices which modern speakers would now call "signs."<ref name="NCHRPReport484" /> In 1930, the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety (NCSHS) published the ''Manual on Street Traffic Signs, Signals, and Markings'', which set similar standards for urban settings, but also added specific guidance on traffic signals, pavement markings, and safety zones.<ref name="NCHRPReport484" /> Although the two manuals were quite similar, both organizations immediately recognized that the existence of two slightly different manuals was unnecessarily awkward, and in 1931 AASHO and NCSHS formed a Joint Committee to develop a uniform standard for both urban streets and rural roads. This standard was the MUTCD.<ref name="Johnson" />