FAST Act, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (Pub. L. No. 114-94), was signed into law by President Obama on December 4, 2015. The first federal law in over a decade, the FAST Act authorizes $305 billion over Fiscal Years 2016 through 2020 for highway, highway and motor vehicle safety, public transportation, motor carrier safety, hazardous materials safety, rail, and research, technology, and statistics programs.

“ ” Report No. FHWA-PD-96-001, p. 69 (1995). Clarifies that “safety feature replacement or upgrading (for example, bridge rail...)” is a type of work eligible for funding under any of the Federal aid categories but not considered as reconstruction and, therefore, not activating the FHWA’s “Ten Year Rule“. The Ten-Year Rule disqualifies a bridge for additional federal aid funds for a period of ten years after any federal funds have been used on a new bridge, reconstructed bridge, or major bridge rehabilitation.

July 25, 1997, memorandum from Donald Steinke on the subject of “ ” clarifies and summarizes policies on bridge railing, points to authorities for requiring testing of bridge railing, and identifies methods for submitting new rails for testing. This document also identifies exceptions, one of which is the replacement or retrofitting of existing bridge railing unless improvements are being made on a stretch of highway that includes a bridge with obsolete railing.

AASHTO

Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (2009)

. Provides guidance for testing permanent and temporary highway safety features to assess safety performance of those features, replacing guidance defined in NCHRP Report 350. Guidance includes definitions of crash-test levels with specified vehicle, speed, and impact angle for each level.

November 20, 2009, memorandum from David A. Nicol on the subject of " " This AASHTO manual supersedes NCHRP Report 350 for the purposes of evaluating new safety hardware. It sets guidelines for crash testing and evaluation criteria for assessing test results. The joint AASHTO/FHWA implementation plan states that all highway safety hardware accepted under the criteria in NCHRP Report 350 does not need to be retested to MASH criteria; may remain in place; and may continue to be manufactured and installed. However, all new hardware that is developed must be tested and evaluated according to MASH.

May 21, 2012, memorandum from Tony Furst on the subject of “ ”. Establishes that States can certify that roadside safety hardware has been tested by an accredited crash test laboratory and meets MASH criteria and can thus be eligible for reimbursement.

January 7, 2016 memorandum from Thomas Everett on the subject of “ ” The memo discusses the agreement between AASHTO and FHWA that requires all new installations of safety hardware on the NHS to be evaluated using the 2016 edition of MASH. The requirement applies to bridge railings with contract letting dates after December 31, 2019.

AASHTO

Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (2016)

. Provides guidance for testing permanent and temporary highway safety features to assess safety performance of those features, replacing guidance defined in NCHRP Report 350. Guidance includes definitions of crash-test levels with specified vehicle, speed, and impact angle for each level.