On May 19, 2015, the Federal Highway Administration issued the following notice:
In issuing Federal-aid eligibility letters for roadside safety hardware, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) currently makes determinations of continued eligibility for modifications to devices tested to the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 350 (NCHRP 350). In an effort to facilitate the implementation of the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH), FHWA intends to discontinue issuing eligibility letters for requests received after December 31, 2015, for modified NCHRP 350-tested devices that do not involve full scale crash testing to the MASH. Modifications to NCHRP 350-tested devices that have, in the past, been based on engineering analysis or finite element modeling will no longer receive FHWA eligibility letters. Effective January 1, 2016, all changes to NCHRP 350-tested devices will require testing under MASH in order to receive a Federal-aid eligibility letter from FHWA.
Purpose of the Notice
The FHWA provides technical assistance to States by issuing Federal-aid eligibility letters for devices deemed crashworthy. The FHWA also makes determinations of continued eligibility for modified devices that have existing eligibility letters. The purpose of this notice is to seek the input of industry, State Departments of Transportation, and the broader highway community on the impact of FHWA no longer issuing eligibility letters after December 31, 2015, for modified NCHRP 350-tested devices that do not involve full scale crash testing to MASH. Modifications to NCHRP 350-tested devices that have, in the past, been based on engineering analysis or finite element modeling will no longer receive FHWA eligibility letters.
What impact will this have the construction industry?
In short, any existing changes or letters would still be valid or grandfathered, but in the future if anything is changed (no matter how minor) it will require full MASH testing.
For those companies that have equipment that has been crash tested or approved thru engineering analysis according to NCHRP 350, MITA wants to make you aware of this pending change, you have the appropriate documentation, and your designs exactly match what has been specified in the NCHRP-350 approval letters.
For additional information regarding the recent notice please click here.
If you have any questions, contact Glenn Bukoski at glennbukoski@mi-ita.com or Doug Needham at douglasneedham@mi-ita.com or call them at the MITA office at 517-347-8336.
