Mr. LeRoy Goff 

 United Rentals Highway Technologies 

 880 North Addison Road 

 P.O. Box 7050 

 Villa Park, Illinois 60181-7050 

Dear Mr. Goff: 

This is in response to Mr. Henry Ross’s letter of March 19, 2004, requesting Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA) acceptance of your company’s Featherweight II Stand for rollup signs 

as a crashworthy traffic control devices for use in work zones on the National Highway System 

(NHS). Accompanying your letter were reports of crash testing conducted by E-Tech Testing 

Services and video of the tests. You requested that we find these devices acceptable for use on 

the NHS under the provisions of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 

Report 350 “Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway 

Features.” Please accept our apologies for not promptly following up on this action after 

Mr. Ross’s departure from your company last year. 

Introduction 

The FHWA guidance on crash testing of work zone traffic control devices is contained in two 

memoranda. The first, dated July 25, 1997, titled “INFORMATION: Identifying Acceptable 

Highway Safety Features,” established four categories of work zone devices: Category I 

devices are those lightweight devices which are to be self-certified by the vendor, Category II 

devices are other lightweight devices which need individual crash testing but with reduced 

instrumentation, Category III devices are barriers and other fixed or heavy devices also 

needing crash testing with normal instrumentation, and Category IV devices are trailer 

mounted lighted signs, arrow panels, etc. for which crash testing requirements have not yet 

been established. The second guidance memorandum was issued on August 28, 1998, and is 

titled “INFORMATION: Crash Tested Work Zone Traffic Control Devices.” This later 

memorandum lists devices that are acceptable under Categories I, II, and III. 

A brief description of the devices follows: 

The Featherweight II Sign Stand is a compact telescoping type portable sign system with a 

rigid upright support. It has four telescoping square tube support legs with spring-loaded 

detents that form a nominal 1778 x 1143 mm X-shaped pattern when extended. The outer 

support leg is made of 31.8 mm square 14ga ASTM A500GD B welded steel tubing. The inner 

support leg is made of 25.4 mm square 2.2 mm wall aluminum tubing. The tips of the inner 

support legs are rubber capped. The support legs pivot on a central two-piece steel “leg 

400 Seventh St., S.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20590

In Reply Refer To: HSA-10/WZ-184

March 11, 2005 
2

support” bracket which is equipped with a spring loaded detent mechanism that allows the legs 

to be unlocked and folded up compactly. The bracket holds the upright support with springloaded detents. The upright consists of three telescoping sections of 2.4 mm wall aluminum 

tubing: 38.1 mm, 31.8 mm, and 25.4 mm square. 

The stand supports a 1219 mm diamond shaped rollup vinyl sign at a nominal 1524 mm height 

as measured from the bottom edge of the sign to the ground level. The stand with sign weights 

18 kg. One 16 kg sand bag was placed at the end of two of the four legs. 

Testing 

Full-scale automobile testing was conducted on your company’ devices. Two stand-alone 

examples of the device were tested in separate test runs, one perpendicular and the second 

head-on. Both devices were placed on flat, clean dry asphalt surfaces. The tests are 

summarized in the table below. 

 Featherweight stand with rollup sign 

Test Number 05-3483-007 

Sign Stand Tested Head-on Perpendicular 

Weight of Tested Stand 18 kg (40 pounds) 

Mounting heights 1524 mm (60 inches) 

Flags? Lights? None 

Mass of Test Vehicle 845 kg 

Impact Speed 105.4 km/hr 100.0 km/hr 

Velocity Change 1.5 m/s 1.4 m/s 

Extent of contact Sign hit windshield Sign hit roof 

Windshield Damage Extensive cracking 

Other notes No holes through the windshield 

Findings 

In addition to striking the bumper, grille, and hood, there was extensive contact between the 

signs and the mast with the windshield resulting in overall cracking. No one location resulted in 

cracking so dense as to impair the ability of a driver to view the road ahead, nor were there any 

holes in the windshield. The velocity changes are well below the 5 m/s permitted by NCHRP 

Report 350. Because of the contact with the windshield, the fiberglass ribs of the roll up signs in 

use should no thicker or wider than those tested. 

You also asked for acceptance of this stand using different sizes and shapes of roll up signs. We 

concur in this request provided the mounting height of the sign is no lower than the tested sign. 

The results of the testing met the FHWA requirements and, therefore, the devices described 

above and detailed in the enclosed drawings are acceptable for use on the NHS under the range 

of conditions tested, when proposed by a State. 

Please note the following standard provisions that apply to the FHWA letters of acceptance: 

• Our acceptance is limited to the crashworthiness characteristics of the devices and does 

not cover their structural features, nor conformity with the Manual on Uniform Traffic 

Control Devices. 

• Any changes that may adversely influence the crashworthiness of the device will require 

a new acceptance letter. 
3

• Should the FHWA discover that the qualification testing was flawed, that in-service 

performance reveals unacceptable safety problems, or that the device being marketed is 

significantly different from the version that was crash tested, it reserves the right to 

modify or revoke its acceptance. 

• You will be expected to supply potential users with sufficient information on design and 

installation requirements to ensure proper performance. 

• You will be expected to certify to potential users that the hardware furnished has 

essentially the same chemistry, mechanical properties, and geometry as that submitted for 

acceptance, and that they will meet the crashworthiness requirements of the FHWA and 

the NCHRP Report 350. 

• To prevent misunderstanding by others, this letter of acceptance, designated as number 

WZ-184 shall not be reproduced except in full. This letter, and the test documentation 

upon which this letter is based, is public information. All such letters and documentation 

may be reviewed at our office upon request. 

• The Featherweight II Sign Stand is a patented device and is considered "proprietary." 

The use of proprietary work zone traffic control devices in Federal-aid projects is 

generally of a temporary nature. They are selected by the contractor for use as needed 

and removed upon completion of the project. Under such conditions they can be 

presumed to meet requirement "a" given below for the use of proprietary products on 

Federal-aid projects. On the other hand, if proprietary devices are specified by a highway 

agency for use on Federal-aid projects they: (a) must be supplied through competitive 

bidding with equally suitable unpatented items; (b) the highway agency must certify that 

they are essential for synchronization with existing highway facilities or that no equally 

suitable alternative 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. These 

provisions do not apply to exempt non-NHS projects. Our regulations concerning 

proprietary products are contained in Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 

635.411, a copy of which is enclosed. 

• This acceptance letter shall not be construed as authorization or consent by the FHWA to 

use, manufacture, or sell any patented device for which the applicant is not the patent 

holder. The acceptance letter is limited to the crashworthiness characteristics of the 

candidate device, and the FHWA is neither prepared nor required to become involved in 

issues concerning patent law. Patent issues, if any, are to be resolved by the applicant. 

Sincerely yours, 

 

 /Original Signed by/ 

 ~for~ 

John R. Baxter, P.E. 

 Director, Office of Safety Design 

 Office of Safety 

Enclosure 

FHWA:HSA-10:NArtimovich:tb:x61331:3/10/05 

File: h://directory folder/artimovich/WZ184UnitedRentals 

cc: HSA-10 (Reader, HSA-1; Chron File, HSA-10; 

 N.Artimovich, HSA-10)