The 2012 Changeable Message Sign (CMS) Manual of Practice report is intended as a replacement of the agency's 2000 statewide technical document which outlined standard practice in the use of agency CMS. The 2012 document includes information derived from existing FHWA standards, MUTCD requirements, the MnDOT 2012 Field Manual and CMS/DMS best practices identification from twelve other state departments of transportation. Key stakeholders from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Greater Minnesota MnDOT Districts, cities, counties, local agencies and private vendors also contributed to the development of the CMS Manual of Practice guidelines. Information included in this report has been developed for 6th to 8th grade readability levels and contains guidance based upon human factors research and findings. The following topics are addressed: · Description of agency permanent and portable CMS sign operations throughout Minnesota · Message content guidelines, including content, length, message unit and load, format, splitting · Message priority requirements for traffic incident management purposes · Acceptable standard practice abbreviations for CMS message sets · Single and dual-phased CMS message set requirements and conformance · Complete message set library for permanent and portable CMS, field guide for portable CMS library A complete set of integrated, interactive training modules to supplement report information is also available for this report under separate cover.
