For Review: Traffic Signal Design Handbook (Publication 149) Rewrite

PennDOT is soliciting comments relating to the draft rewrite of Publication 149, Traffic Signal Design Handbook. This is the second draft for review (the previous draft was distributed in January 2025). Comments will be accepted through January 9, 2026. Please see instructions below.

Publication 149 is being reorganized and revised to include the following key updates:

• Completely reorgnized and revised the publication outline into 6 parts (36 chapters)
• Updated content to be consistent with the latest PennDOT practices and pubs and MUTCD
• Present a holistic traffic control signal design approach
• Define & include other variable special-use & misc. traffic signals other than R-Y-G signal
• Pull together & consolidate similar subject matter into its new individual chapter
• For operations, Chapter 10 indicates that designers shall use the Signal Timing Manual, 2nd edition (STM2) for the design of operational aspects of traffic control signals in PA. Any PA supplemental info to be provided for an STM2 section topic is presented within the individual Chapter 10 sections.

Following are documents related to this update for review:

• Publication 149 Draft, incorporating the proposed changes
• Redlines showing changes in the Clearance Transmittal (CT) Step 2 draft compared to the CT Step 1 draft
• Resolution of Comments from CT Step 1
• Clearance Transmittal Step 2 Form
• Draft Form TE-674, Vulnearable Road User Accommodation at Traffic Control Signals Engineering Study

Please note only comments provided using MS Excel file titled "CT T-25-001 Pub 149 Rewrite Comment Form" will be accepted. Please download the spreadsheet, populate it with your comments, save it with a new filename, and return to RA-PDBOMO-CT@pa.gov.

New Signal Portal Notification Service

Due to reduced quality of the third-party service we were using for Traffic Signal Portal notifications (follow.it), we have migrated to a new notification system hosted in-house on PennDOT servers. All email addresses with active subscriptions have been moved to the new system and should no longer receive emails from follow.it. Notifications will now come from signals@pa.gov, which will occur no more than once daily at 8:00 AM. If you encounter issues, please contact us at signals@pa.gov.

Green Light-Go Year 11 Application Period

PennDOT is announcing the next round of the Green Light-Go Program (Year 11). Prior to application submission, applicants must complete and submit a Pre-Application Scoping Form in accordance with the Green Light-Go Program Guidelines. Pre-Application scoping forms will be accepted via email (GLG@pa.gov) until January 2, 2026. PennDOT will review and provide comments on the Pre-Application Scoping Forms by February 28, 2026.

Full applications must be submitted electronically through the DCED Single Application for Assistance between March 1, 2026 and March 31, 2026. Instructions for completing the application are in the Green Light-Go Program Guidelines.

It is anticipated awards from this application round will be announced in summer 2026 after passage of the 2026-27 state budget and the projects must be completed by spring 2029.

Please visit the Green Light-Go page of the Traffic Signal Portal for more information.

Contact us via email at GLG@pa.gov with questions.

Referencing TC-8800 from Signal Plans

Change #2 of Publication 148, Traffic Signal Standards - TC-8800 Series includes new sheets for detection zone placement and preemption. These standards can simplify the information shown on plans for individual intersections by referencing the standards.

Examples plans are available here showing information that previously was included on plans and how this information can be removed from the plans and replaced with a reference to the applicable TC-8800 series standards. For each sheet of the example, the first page shows the old way information was shown on the plan, the second sheet shows what can be removed, and the third sheet shows the new notes to be added to reference the standards. All markups are shown in red.

When there is a need to deviate from the standard for a particular intersection, relevant information should still be included on the plan sheet. Information shown on intersection signal plans supersedes the TC-8800 series standards.

Should you have any questions regarding the example or implementing the new changes to Publication 148, please contact Rickey L. Barnett, Jr. at (717) 705-6178 or rbarnett@pa.gov.

TSAMS Updated 8-21-25

PennDOT’s Traffic Signal Asset Management System (TSAMS) has been updated on August 21^st, 2025, with the following features and bug fixes:

New features/enhancements

• A Roundabout module user guide has been added to the TSAMS’ help session.
• “Save” button is now available in Non-Signal module, and it allows user to save the changes without the system redirecting to the search screen.
• Optional Facility Name text field has been added to the Non-signal module’s School Zone Flasher device detail page to enter additional facility location such as school, landmarks, and etc.
• Restricted certain user roles from unintentionally altering district, county, and municipality information throughout the application. 

ITS Module

• ITS work authorizations status has been updated to include a “Completed” option. Additionally, an email notification will now be sent when a work authorization is marked “Completed”.
• A single work authorization can now be associated to multiple downtime entries.
• Multiple devices can be listed under a single downtime record and update each device status without affecting other devices’ statuses.
• “Manage TSAMS Documents” section is created within Work authorization to streamline the documents between TSAMS and ECMS. 
• The Downtime tab is renamed Malfunction, a dynamic drop-down menu is added so that users can select cause of malfunction for specific device.
• Users can now individually end downtime for a specific ITS device within a shared downtime record.
• Users can search and filter ITS devices that are currently in downtime.
• Several Operational Statuses are now available for the current status of ITS devices which help distinguish between devices that are technically operational but not fully resolved, and those that are truly non-functional.

Bug Fix

• The street details section is now always expanded for user convenience.

As always, please share your feedback with us at signals@pa.gov. We are especially interested in feedback on the new Pedestrian/Bicycle. Most of the feature enhancements are directly from user feedback.    

For Review: Publication 46 changes

Comments will be accepted through July 12, 2025. Please see instructions below.

This proposed policy includes revisions to PennDOT Publication 46 Traffic Engineering Manual. The last full updated to this 2012 publication was Change #1 in 2014. This publication revision incorporates several official policy changes, such as Strike-Off-Letters and memorandums, made effective since Change #1. The scope of proposed policy revisions, per chapter, are shown on the attached Compedium of Changes. The revisions are, in part, prompted for PA to achieve substantial conformance with the national MUTCD, 11th edition, available with additional information at www.mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov. Additional clearance transmittals are forthcoming for PennDOT Publication 46 Traffic Engineering Manual, Chapters 2 and 3, Publication 111 Pavement Makring & Signing Standards and Publication 236 Handbook of Approved signs regarding MUTCD conformance.

Following are documents related to this update for review:

• Publication 46 Change #2 draft (clean)
• Publication 46 Change #2 draft (redline)
• Publication 46 Compendium of Changes
• Clearance Transmittal Form

Please note that only comments provided using MS Excel file titled "CT T-25-008 Publication 46 Traffic Engineering Manual Comment Form" will be accepted. Please download the spreadsheet, populate it with your comments, save it with a new filename, and return to RA-PDBOMO-CT@PA.GOV.

TSAMS Update 4-24-25

PennDOT's Traffic Signal Asset Management System (TSAMS) has been updated on April 24, 2025, with the following features:

New features/enhancements

• A Reference ID field is added to Signal and Non-Signal modules for Electronic Sign components.
• An Image Preview feature is now available in the document section enabling users to preview all images without fully opening each image.
• Component inventory report is added for non-signals in the Signal Owner module.
• Discontinued Date and End of Support Date fields are added to the Product module.
• Dates can be entered manually in addition to using the calendar picker throughout the TSAMS application.
• Different signal statuses can be selected without first selecting the "Operational" status.

Roundabout Module Updates

• A restriction is implemented from entering future status dates.
• The comment history is updated to properly show the username of the individual who entered the comment.

Bug Fixes

• EPS and ECMS tables in the document section are now correctly displaying all documents regardless of how many the user chose to display on each page, and the table can be sorted by any column.
• Resolved the issue of displaying the street details in other unrelated Roundabout modules.

As always, please share your feedback with us at signals@pa.gov. Most of the feature enhancements are directly from user feedback, and therefore we are especially interested in feedback.