1. (a) Traffic fatality memorials.

   1. (1) While construction of roadside memorials within the state right-of-way is not allowed, the Arkansas Department of Transportation recognizes that, from time to time, persons who lose a loved one in a traffic accident want to memorialize the site where the fatal accident occurred.

   2. (2)

      1. (A) The department will remove a memorial as soon as possible if it poses a safety concern.
      2. (B) A memorial will be removed if it:

2. (i) Interferes with a maintenance operation, roadway safety features, or vision;

   1. (ii) Negatively impacts the free flow of traffic; or

      1. (iii) Would be a hazard should it be hit.

   2. (3)

      1. (A) Small, unobtrusive, nonstructural objects, such as small wreaths or flower arrangements, placed on the roadside may be left for a period of seven (7) days from when first noticed by department personnel.
      2. (B) During this seven-day period, department personnel will attempt to make contact with those persons responsible for placing the monument and urge them to remove it from the highway right-of-way.
      3. (C) After the seventh day, department personnel will move the monument to the nearest maintenance area headquarters to be held until the grieving party reclaims it, but typically no longer than thirty (30) days.

3. (b) Transportation enhancements. Financed entirely with local funding, certain types of aesthetic improvements are allowed on department right-of-way under permit.

   1. (c) School Zone and Pedestrian Crosswalk signs.
   2. (1) The use of the School Sign (S1-1) should be limited to school zones and school crosswalks maintained by the department.
   3. (2) The “SCHOOL” pavement marking should only be used in school zones (areas where the school property abuts the highway).
   4. (3) A school shall be defined as a publicly owned kindergarten through grade twelve (K – 12) facility meeting the Rules Governing Standards of Accreditation for Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts, 6 CAR pt. 61, set by the State Board of Education and monitored by the Department of Education, or a privately owned kindergarten through grade twelve (K – 12) facility meeting the accreditation standards of the Arkansas Nonpublic School Accrediting Association, Inc.

   5. (4)

      1. (A) Daycare centers and higher education facilities will not be classified as schools for the purpose of installing or maintaining crosswalks.
      2. (B) All other crosswalks installed and maintained by others should be signed, when warranted, using the Pedestrian Warning Sign (W11-2).

   6. (5) School and pedestrian signs should not be installed at signalized intersections.

      1. (d) Guidelines for standard sign usage.

   7. (1) Regulatory and guide signs.

      1. (A) Stop signs (R1-1).

         1. (i) Usage: installed on public roads only.
         2. (ii) Placement and size:
4. (a) (a) They should be placed on their own assembly, not underneath or crowded with route markers; and

5. (b) (b) Minimum size is thirty-six inches (36”) or forty-eight inches (48”) when recommended by an engineering study.

   1. (B) Yield signs (R1-2).

      1. (i) Usage: installed at channelized intersections.

         1. (ii) Placement and size:
6. (a) (a) They should be placed on their own assembly; and

7. (b) (b) Minimum size is thirty inches (30”) normal, thirty-six inches (36”) on state highways, forty-eight inches (48”) on interstate off-ramps, and forty-eight inches (48”) when recommended by an engineering study.

   1. (C) Speed Limits (R2-1).

      1. (i) Usage:
8. (a) (a) Existing speed limits are changed only after an engineering study to determine the appropriate speed limit;

9. (b) (b) Speed Zone Ahead (R2-5C) sign no longer used, use W3-5 instead; and

   1. (c) (c) Typically placed post-interchange on all fully controlled access facilities.

      1. (ii) Placement and spacing:
10. (a) (a) Placed only where a change in the regulatory speed occurs; and

11. (b) (b) Seven hundred fifty feet (750’) normal spacing, six hundred feet (600’) minimum.

    1. (D) Keep Right sign (R4-7). Usage: use Keep Right (R4-7A) instead of the symbol (R4-7) sign.

       1. (E) Mandatory movement lane control signs (R3-5, R3-5a, and R3-7). Placement and spacing: placed at the beginning of the dashed white line and again at the beginning of the solid white line.

       2. (F) Route markers.

          1. (i) Usage and placement: four (4) assemblies typically used on approach to an intersection:
12. (a) (a) Junction assembly (Sect. 2D.28) — usually placed with a destination board six hundred feet (600’) from the intersection;

13. (b) (b) Advance route turn assembly (Sect. 2D.29) — placed three hundred feet (300’) minimum from the intersection only when turn required to stay on route;

    1. (c) (c) Directional assembly (Sect. 2D.30) — placed at the intersection. At “T” intersections routes, are gated by placing route markers back-to-back; and

       1. (d) (d) Confirming assembly (Sect. 2D.31) — usually placed with a distance board two hundred feet (200’) to three hundred feet (300’) after the intersection.

          1. (ii) Straight arrows are not typically used, with exceptions being at interchanges and at intersections where the route being travelled turns and another route continues straight.
          2. (iii) Dual route marking and trailblazing are not done unless previously approved.

       2. (G) Destination and distance signs. Usage and placement:

          1. (i) Destination and distance signs should have two (2) or three (3) destinations;
          2. (ii) When a destination is listed on the junction assembly, the same destination should be repeated on the post-intersection confirming assembly;
          3. (iii) The top line should be the closest destination straight ahead, followed by the left destination and then the right destination;
          4. (iv) Mileages for the distance signs are measured to the middle of the destination;
          5. (v) When adding destinations to an existing assembly, the new sign should be the same length as the existing one; and
          6. (vi) Typically placed post-interchange on all fully controlled access facilities listing the next exit and the next control city.

       3. (H) Overhead guide signs. Usage and placement: overhead signs shall be used for both the advance guide sign and the exit direction sign at:

          1. (i) Freeway to freeway interchanges;
          2. (ii) Other complex interchanges (cloverleaf, A-B exits, C-D roads, off-ramps with sharp or short geometry, etc.);
          3. (iii) Interchanges with mandatory lane drops (exit only); and
          4. (iv) Freeways with three (3) or more lanes in each direction.

    2. (2) Warning signs.

       1. (A) Chevrons (W1-8).

          1. (i) Usage:
14. (a) (a) Curves that ball-bank more than twelve degrees (12°) at fifteen (15) or more miles per hour (m.p.h.) below the posted speed limit;

15. (b) (b) Curves where the vertical alignment either obscures or distorts the view of the curve (blind curves or downhill curves (curves that fall away from the driver, making the curve look flatter than it is));

    1. (c) (c) Curves after a long tangent section; and

       1. (d) (d) Any curve with a run-off-the-road accident history.

          1. (ii) Placement and spacing:
16. (a) (a) Chevrons are placed evenly from the P.C. to P.T. of the curve;

17. (b) (b) The spacing should be approximately thirty feet (30’) for every ten miles per hour (10 m.p.h.) of advisory speed, for example, thirty miles per hour (30 m.p.h.) advisory speed equals ninety feet (90’) spacing; and

    1. (c) (c) Placement must be such that a minimum of two (2) chevrons are visible at all times.

       1. (B) Arrows (W1-6 and W1-7).

          1. (i) Usage:
18. (a) (a) W1-6 on curves that ball-bank more than twelve degrees (12°) at thirty miles per hour (30 m.p.h.) or less (abrupt changes in alignment) where the curve length is too short to accommodate three (3) chevrons (approximately three hundred feet (300’)); and

19. (b) (b) W1-7 at “T” intersections where the stopping roadway is either a highway or paved county road that does not have adequate stopping sight distance.

    1. (ii) Placement and spacing: one (1) W1-6 each direction placed in line with the approach tangent.

       1. (C) Object markers (OM-3). Usage:

          1. (i) Place at pipe and box culvert ends that are closer than thirty feet (30’) from the edge line. Place signs back-to-back on the approach side of culverts less than twenty feet (20’) in width, and on all four (4) corners of structures greater than twenty feet (20’);
          2. (ii) Bridge or guardrail ends when either is less than the approach roadway shoulder width; and
          3. (iii) On narrow bridges (less than eighteen feet (18’)) per signing details.

       2. (D) Alignment warning signs.

          1. (i) Usage:
20. (a) (a) Curve warning signs are placed on curves that ball-bank more than five degrees (5°) at the posted speed limit;

21. (b) (b) Advisory speed plates are added at ten (10) or more miles per hour (m.p.h.) below the posted speed limit; and

    1. (c) (c) Use Winding Road signs (W1-4 and W1-5) when there is less than six hundred feet (600’) tangent between successive curves.

       1. (ii) Placement and size:
22. (a) (a) Place warning signs approximately five hundred feet (500’) in advance of the condition requiring the sign; and

23. (b)

    1. (1) (b)(1) Use forty-eight-inch signs on all fully controlled access facilities.
    2. (2) (2) Use thirty-six-inch signs with twenty-four-inch advisory plates, if needed, on all U.S. Routes and multi-lane highways.
    3. (3) (3) Use either thirty-six-inch or forty-eight-inch signs with twenty-four-inch advisory plates, if needed, in high accident rate locations.
    4. (4) (4) Use thirty-inch signs with eighteen-inch advisory plates, if needed, on all other routes.

Codification Notes: “P.C.” means point of curve. "P.T." means point of tangent.