August 15, 2023

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

In Reply Refer To: 

HSST-1/B-371 

Mark Ayton 

Northern Infrastructure Products 

21 Fortecon Drive 

Stouffville ON 

Canada 

Dear Mr. Ayton: 

We received your correspondence of March 23, 2022 requesting issuance of a reimbursement 

eligibility letter under the Federal-aid highway program for the roadside safety system, device, 

design, product, or hardware (collectively “device”) described below. This letter is assigned 

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) control number B-371. 

ELIGIBILITY LETTERS 

The FHWA issues Federal-aid reimbursement eligibility letters for new roadside safety devices 

that are crash tested in accordance with the industry standard of the American Association of 

State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware 

(MASH). 

FHWA, the Department of Transportation, and the United States (government) do not regulate 

roadside safety devices, crash test facilities, or the manufacturing industry. Issuance of 

eligibility letters is discretionary and provided only as a service to the states. FHWA may, at its 

discretion, decline to issue, revise, or rescind an eligibility letter. Eligibility letters are only 

issued by the FHWA headquarters Office of Safety. 

Eligibility letters are issued only as notice to the states that a device is eligible for reimbursement 

under the Federal-aid highway program. They do not establish approval or certification for any 

other purpose. Issuance of an eligibility letter is not a prerequisite or requirement for state 

transportation agencies seeking to use Federal-aid funds for roadside safety devices. State 

agencies may use a device for which an eligibility letter has not been issued and seek Federal-aid 

reimbursement. 

FEDERAL-AID REIMBURSEMENT 

The request for issuance of this letter certified the device was crash tested in accordance with the 

industry standard of AASHTO’s MASH. This eligibility letter is based on that certification and 

the material offered in support of its issuance. The device described below is eligible for 

reimbursement under the Federal-aid highway program. 

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Name of system: Traffic Barrier with Inertial Crash Panel and Soundwall System 

Type of system: Longitudinal Barrier 

Test Level: Test Level 4 

Testing conducted by: Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) 

Date of request: March 23, 2022 

Information about the device, including material such as the eligibility request, crash test reports, 

drawings, or images are included in one or more attachment(s) to this letter. 

Eligibility letter B-371 is inapplicable to devices, optional equipment, alternate materials, or 

other features that were not crash tested in accordance with AASHTO’s MASH. 

This letter is issued only for the subject device as crash tested under AASHTO’s MASH. Later 

modification(s) of the device are not eligible for Federal-aid reimbursement under this letter. 

Notice of later modification(s) should be given to transportation agencies, facility owners, and 

operators (collectively “agencies”). 

Agencies should be provided appropriate information about the device’s design, installation, 

maintenance, materials, and mechanical properties. 

Issuance of this letter is discretionary, and it may be revised or rescinded at FHWA’s discretion. 

This letter is not a determination of compliance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control 

Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) or ownership of any intellectual property rights. 

This eligibility letter is not a determination by the government that a crash involving the subject 

device will result in any particular outcome. It is limited to only the device’s eligibility for 

Federal-aid reimbursement. 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

Issuance of this eligibility letter does not convey property rights of any sort nor any exclusive 

privilege. This letter is not authorization or consent by the government for the use, manufacture, 

or sale of any patented or proprietary system, device, design, product, or hardware for which the 

requester is not the patent owner. Eligibility letters are not an expression of any view, position, 

or determination by the government as to the validity, scope, or ownership of any intellectual 

property rights to a specific device. These letters do not grant, impute, suggest, or otherwise 

establish any ownership, distribution, or licensing rights to the requester. The government 

expresses no opinion about the intellectual property rights relating to any device for which this or 

any other eligibility letter is issued. 

PUBLIC DISCLOSURE 

To prevent any misunderstanding, and as discussed above, this eligibility letter is assigned 

FHWA control number B-371. It should only be reproduced in full with its attachment(s). This 

letter and the material offered by the requester supporting its issuance is public information. All 

eligibility letters and supporting material are subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of 

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Information Act (FOIA). Eligibility letters are available to the public at 

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/countermeasures/reduce_crash_severity/. 

If you have any questions please contact Aimee Zhang at Aimee.Zhang@dot.gov. 

Sincerely, 

Robert Ritter 

Director, Office of Safety Technologies 

Office of Safety 

Enclosures 

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