REFER TO: 

HNG-14 

C. Richard Briden. P. E. 

Engineering Manager 

P & K Pole Products 

04 Foundry Street 

Newark, New Jersey 07105 

Dear Mr. Briden: 

This is in response to your three December 13, 1989, letters to Mr. Thomas 0. 

Uillett requesting acceptance by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 

of your company's 7-inch and &inch breakaway aluminum shoebase luminaire 

supports for use on Federal-aid highway projects. Tests were conducted to 

assess the compliance of these bases with FHWA breakaway requirements, which 

cite Section 7 of the 1985 American Association of State Highway and 

Transportation Officials' (AASHTO) Standard Specifications for Structural 

Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires and Traffic Signals. You enclosed for 

our review three Southwest Research Institute reports (Project No. 06-3116- 

503), dated November 1989, containing results of pendulum tests on aluminum 

poles with these base designs. Further information, including a film of the 

tests, was transmitted with your letters of January 12 to Mr. Nicholas 

Artimovich and April 25 to Mr. Willett. 

The tests used an instrumented 1,800-pound pendulum fitted with a 10 stage 

crushable nose which simulates the left quarter point of a 1979 Volkswagen 

Rabbit. Impact speed for each test was 20 m.p.h. Details of the tested 

hardware and the measured and extrapolated results are summarized below: 

Test No. PK-1 PK-2 PK-3 

O.D. and Base No. 7 inch SB-2G 7 inch SE-2G 8 inch SB-2G 

Mounting Height 30 feet 30 feet 35 feet 

Pole Wall Thickness 0.156 inches 0.188 inches 0.156 inches 

Pole, Arm, & Lum. Wt. 193.5 pounds 218.0 pounds 212.0 pounds 

20-mph Test Delta V 8.8 f.p.s. 12.2 f.p.s. 9.1 f.p.s. 

60-mph Calc. Delta V 5.1 f.p.s. 6.6 f.p.s. 5.8 f.p.s. 

Stub Height 2.3 inches 2.3 inches 2.3 inches 

This information shows that the tested pole-base combinations will meet the 

change in velocity and stub-height requirements adopted by the FHWA. 

Thus, breakaway shoebases SB-2G for 7-inch and g-inch outside pole diameters 

(O.D.), with maximum support and luminaire weights of 250-pounds and maximum 

pole wall thicknesses of 0.188 inches, as shown on the.denclosed drawings, are 

acceptable for use on Federal-aid highway projects, if proposed by a State. 

This acceptance is limited to breakaway characteristics of the bases and does 

not cover their structural features. Presumably, you will supply potential 
2 

users with sufficient information on structural design limitations, including 

resistance to torsion and overturning, and on installation requirements to 

ensure proper performance. He anticipate that the States will require 

certification from P 6 K Pole Products that the bases furnished have 

essentially the same chemistry, mechanical properties, and geometry as the 

bases used in the tests, and that supports with those bases will meet the FHWA 

breakaway requirements. 

Since your company's breakaway shoebases are proprietary items, to be used in 

a Federal-aid highway project, they; (a) must be supplied through competitive 

bidding with equally suitable unpatented items; (b) the specifying State 

highway agency must certtfy that they are essential for synchronization with 

existing highway facilities, or that no equally suitable alternate exists; or 

(c) they must be used for research or for a distinctive type of construction 

on relatively short sections of road for experimental purposes. Our 

regulations concerning proprietary products are contained in Title 23, Code of 

Federal Regulations, Section 635.411, a copy of which is enclosed for your 

information. 

Sincerely yours, 

/ .&&z&n 

L. A. Staron 

Chief, Federal-Aid and Design Division 

Enclosures 

Geometric and Roadside Design Branch Acceptance Letter LS-12 
BOTTOM VIEW 

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