Interesting History on the subject. Thanks for all the comments. Mike Payne
> On 10 Jun 2020, at 20:55, Phil Chernack <[email protected]> wrote: > > The law that required metric plans to be submitted to the FHWA was ISTEA ( > Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991) passed in 1991. > While it required metric plans, it prohibited federal money to be used for > metric signage. After AASHTO (American Association of State Highway > Transportation Officials) promulgated metric plans and many states converted > to metric by 2000, they were receiving complaints from contractors that while > the state level was metric, the county and local level as well as private > construction was not. When the next transportation funding bill was passed > (TEA-21, Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century) it removed the > metric plan requirement. > > Phil Chernack > > On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 9:28 AM Mark Henschel <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > I remember going to a conference of Federal highway officials back around 20 > or 30 years ago. All of the discussion was about standards and sizes. How > wide will the roads be and how big will the interchanges be? Somehow somebody > got upset they would have to see those signs in kilometers, even though none > of the discussion was about signs. > When the legislation went through in the highway bill, it prohibited ALL > federal money for metric related activities. I'm sure they were mainly afraid > of kilometer signs, but the legislation effectively stopped all federal money > for all metric related activities. Thus states, such as Minnesota, which was > fairly well along in the metric standards transition, had to roll back ALL > metric work, there being no federal reimbursement money available to pay for > any of their metric activity. > > Mark Henschel > > On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 7:17 AM Michael Payne <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > I distinctly remember reading somewhere, probably on this list serve how > someone in Congress slipped something into a budget bill (?) that upended the > whole transition, and if memory serves, I think more than 40 states had > already transitioned to doing all Federal Highway construction and planning > in SI. I’m sure this was in the late 90’s early 2000’s. It cost money to > transition and money to transition back. What a waste. > > Someone will read this and remember. Unless I have it all wrong? > > Mike Payne > > >> On 10 Jun 2020, at 13:03, Mark Henschel <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> Federal legislation in the Highway bill prohibited federal money being used >> to pay for Metric System items such as highway signs. Since there was no >> money to pay for it, all metrication work on highways stopped. Ironically >> states were not asking for money for signs, but for actual construction >> using SI units >> This was back in the Reagan era, and no changes have been made since. >> >> On Tue, Jun 9, 2020, 11:45 PM Michael Payne <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> Anyone have the history of how and why most State Highway departments rolled >> back their metric transition a number of years back? I seem to remember it >> was some Congressmen who inserted language into a budget somewhere that made >> the whole transition voluntary. And it all unravelled. >> >> Mike Payne >> _______________________________________________ >> USMA mailing list >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma >> <https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma> > > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma > <https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma> > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma > <https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma> > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma
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