FHWA’s Metric Conversion Plan

FHWA established a metric work group in December 1990 to develop a conversion plan and timetable. Highway Sign Conversion Requirement Deferred

Although FHWA was moving forward on other aspects of converting its highway program to metric, on June 27, 1994, it issued a Federal Register notice apprising the public that the agency had postponed the September 30, 1996, deadline for highway sign conversion until at least after 1996. The officials said that postponement was necessary because of recent legislative prohibitions on the use of federal-aid highway funds for this activity and because of negative comments received on FHWA’s August 31, 1993, Federal Register notice. Most states have not taken any action to convert their signs to metric units. As such, activities that support sign conversion continue. For example, FHWA is currently converting the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices into dual units—English and metric. Initially, Alabama estimated that it would cost $2.7 million to convert its state highway signs, using the quick-conversion option, to metric units by October 1995. As a result, FHWA has postponed requiring states to implement the conversion. However, there is concern that little data may be available to estimate the cost of converting signs on local roads. Recommendations

To help to ensure that the Federal Highway Administration has sufficient information to analyze the implications of the metric conversion of highway signs, we recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, to expand the national cost estimate study to include the potential costs of educating the public about converting highway signs to metric units.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA) metric conversion plan, focusing on the: (1) status of federal and states' efforts to convert highway signs to metric units; and (2) possible costs involved in implementing the conversion.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) in June 1994, FHwA announced that it was postponing the deadline for converting highway signs until at least after 1996 and as a result, most states have deferred their sign conversion activities; (2) FHwA postponed the conversion because recent legislative requirements have prohibited the use of federal-aid highway funds for this activity, and it received negative comments regarding the costs of the conversion; (3) since sign conversion remains a goal, FHwA is continuing with activities to support conversion, such as converting its manual on highway signs into English and metric units; (4) there is no comprehensive estimate of the costs to convert highway signs to metric units, but Alabama has determined that it would cost about $420 million to convert the signs in state and local roads; and (5) an FHwA contractor will be developing a comprehensive estimate, but there is concern that little data are available to estimate sign conversions on local roads, since inventories of local signs may not exist.