The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) recently completed a comprehensive update of its Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction and accompanying Standard Construction Details.
The focus of the updates include removal of metric values so that U.S. customary units will be the only unit of measure, addition of 2016 Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) compliance as accepted by the Department, consistency with Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) needs, and consistency with Department and regulatory publications. In addition, edits of the Standard Details were made to meet current methods of construction.
A summary memorandum to current holders of the Standard Specifications is provided on the DelDOT website to guide users on the material changes. Similarly, a detailed revision tracking is provided for the Standard Details.
The result of the updates is to the benefit also of local agencies in Delaware that may wish to rely on the Standard Specifications and Details for their own transportation projects. Of course, it should be noted that any reliance on these documents is at the discretion of the local agency and DelDOT cannot be held liable for contractual use of them. That said, local agencies should consider whether reference to these standard specifications and details may be appropriate for their projects.
The major topics of the Standard Specifications include General Provisions (contracting and legal issues), Earthwork, Base Courses, Bituminous Materials, Rigid Pavement, Structures, Miscellaneous Construction, Traffic, Erosion and Sediment Control, and Materials. The major areas covered by the Standard Details include Barrier (guardrail, etc.), Curb & Gutter (including entrances and pedestrian connections; a.k.a. curb ramps), Drainage, Erosion, Landscaping, Miscellaneous, Pavement, and Traffic (signals, etc., as well as breakaway sign posts).
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Of special note, while many updates addressed the latest MASH crash testing, a MASH-compliant breakaway sign post remains unavailable, so DelDOT continues to recognize their Standard Detail T-15 as the current best practice.
Local agencies are encouraged to consult the updated documents and determine if they are appropriate for their projects.
The Delaware T2/LTAP Center’s Municipal Engineering Circuit Rider is intended to provide technical assistance and training to local agencies and so if you have specification questions or other transportation issues, contact Matt Carter at matheu@udel.edu or (302) 831-7236.
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