ATSSA Signal September October 2020

American Traffic Safety Services Association 24 Innovation COVID-19 put a halt to many in- person industrymeetings but that hasn’t stopped ATSSA staff from represent - ing its members at a myriad of virtual events over the past few months. ATSSA participated in the Cooperative Automated Transportation (CAT) Coali - tion Working Group Chair’s meeting in June. The CAT Coalition started in 2017 and has a possible end date of 2022. A chief concern of the CAT Coalition is preserving the safety spectrum, an issue the Federal Communications Commis - sion has been engaged in since late last year. The CAT Coalition has developed Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) Chal - lenge resources, a white paper on CAT resources, a clearinghouse of CAT policy frameworks, and a summary of a CAT survey on funding and management approaches. ATSSA learned that the Infrastructure OwnerOperators(IOO)/OriginalEquipment Manufacturers (OEM) Forum is prepar - ing for connected intersections—helping IOOs understandwhat is needed for CAT workzone infrastructureandhelping IOOs understand connectedautomation. Addi - tionally, the CAT Coalition is working on developing language to be used in auto - mated driving legislation, a CAT Planning Domestic Plan, and Connected Vehicle Deployment Environment Resources. NCUTCD GOES VIRTUAL, AWAITS MUTCD UPDATE The National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) met virtually in June for its summer meet - ing. The organization aims to aid in the development of regulations and stan - dards for Traffic Control Devices (TCDs) in addition to usage practices of these devices that control traffic on roadways. TheNCUTCDmakes recommendations to federal transportation agencies includ - ing the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for revisions to the Manual on UniformTraffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which sets national standards on TCDs. “TheNCUTCD’s summermeetingwas very productiveand collaborative, withseveral recommended changes being discussed to the MUTCD,” said ATSSA Director of Innovation and Technical Services Eric Perry. “There was good discussion on orange pavement markings, connected and automated vehicles, research areas, and several recommendations to typi - cal applications in Part 6 of the manual.” Since the 2009 versionof theMUTCDwas issued, there have been many critical recommendations made for revisions from a large pool of the transportation community, including traffic and safety engineers. There also has been exten - sive consideration of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) in developing the revisions, which the MUTCD should incorporate to address. Individual meetings were heldwith each technical committeeand task force. Other items of importance addressed were as follows: CAVs need redundancy and discussions are under way about how CAVs will approach dark signals (signals that are off when power goes out). During the AmericanAssociationof State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Committee on Traffic Engi - neering, ATSSA learned that FHWA is still working diligently on the Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPA) for the MUTCD. The committee reported that Congress is trying to direct what goes into the MUTCD regarding speed limits because itwants toadopt theNTSBrecom - mendations pertaining to speedandengi- neers would need to use a safe system approach for setting speed limits. The CAT Coalition’s activities were reviewed, including that it’sworking on 17 products. ATSSA staff represents members on key issues Changes to automated transportation, MUTCD among the topics of recent meetings ATSSA represented its members at a variety of technical meetings over the past quarter, including discussions related to connected and automated vehicles.