The core manuals behind every Florida traffic task — what to collect first, and how to read them without drowning.
Collect FIRST (week 1 — bookmark, save PDFs where allowed, date the note)
- FDOT Design Manual (FDM) — the daily driver for state work
- FDOT Standard Plans — what details actually look like
- MUTCD + Florida adoption — signs/markings/signals law of the land
- Florida Greenbook — governs most LOCAL (non-FDOT) roads; juniors constantly cite FDM where Greenbook applies
- FDOT Traffic Engineering Manual (TEM) — Florida-specific traffic ops practice
- MOC - Data Sources → Signal Four Analytics row — crash work starts here
- ITE Trip Generation · ITE Parking Generation · ULI Shared Parking — the demand triad
- Your 3 busiest local agencies’ TIA + parking + calming guidelines (
03 Agencies)
Design & production
FDOT Standard Specifications · FDOT CADD Manual and FDOTConnect · FDOT Basis of Estimates and Pay Items · AASHTO Green Book · AASHTO Roadside Design Guide · PROWAG and ADA
- FDOT Context Classification — C1-C6 context classes that, with functional class, select FDM design criteria and target speed; guide PDF + preliminary GIS layer.
- NACTO Design Guides — urban/complete-streets design vocabulary (Urban Street Design Guide free online) that City of Tampa and St. Pete reference; guidance, not a standard.
Operations & analysis
Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) · ITE TIA Recommended Practice · FDOT Access Management (Rules 14-96 14-97 + Guidebook) · FDOT Quality LOS Handbook
Safety
Highway Safety Manual (HSM) · CMF Clearinghouse · FHWA Resources (Proven Safety Countermeasures, PEDSAFE/BIKESAFE)
Research bodies
NCHRP and TRB · ITE Resources · CUTR
Reading strategy: don’t read manuals cover-to-cover. For each real task: find the governing chapter → skim → extract the criterion into a design-standard or concept note with a worked example. 20 such notes beat one full read-through.