The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is hosting two June webinars to review the results of a study commissioned to explore the possibility of converting the Manual on Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) 2016 to a performance-based specification.

AASHTO hired the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to do a scoping study to assess the effort, timeline and needs required if the change was undertaken. Results of the study will be presented at two webinars, which will include time for questions. Registration is now open.

Republican members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-Mo.), today released their version of a transportation reauthorization ahead of likely Committee action in early June. The language, which is narrower in scope than the House-passed transportation bill last year, would spend $400 billion over five years on federal-aid highway projects, an increase of 32% over current funding levels.

Dubbed the Surface Transportation Advanced through Reform, Technology & Efficient Review Act 2.0 (STARTER Act 2.0), the legislation includes increases to the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP).

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wore a button depicting the face of Brandyn Spychalski on her orange suit jacket as she spoke at the national kickoff for National Work Zone Awareness Week this morning.

She urged everyone to recognize that orange work zone cones represent people and to “see the humanity” of one another.

“This is not a hassle. This is not a distraction. This is a workplace,” Whitmer said of roadway work zones. “Each of us deserves to be safe in the workplace.”

National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) started on Monday with events being held across the country to raise awareness of the importance of work zone safety. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) hosted this year’s kickoff event, which was livestreamed.

Republican committee leaders in the Senate released their framework for an infrastructure package. The five-year proposal, deemed a counter proposal to the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan, would focus primarily on transportation, broadband and water infrastructure.

ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner sent a letter thanking Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Acting Administrator Stephanie Pollack for extending the comment period for the Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) on the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

He noted the decade-old MUTCD needs an update, expressed ATSSA’s backing of the process and rejected the recent call by some to rewrite the MUTCD.

“ATSSA supports the ongoing process and we are confident that USDOT will obtain great feedback on how to improve this important manual,” Tetschner wrote. “We understand that some want to start over with the manual and we do not support this idea. We do, however, support a reexamination of the structure, process and content of the MUTCD at a later date. We also want to make it clear that this reexamination should not delay a new edition that our industry desperately needs.”