ISA, OAAA Jointly Advocate New Wind-Load Requirements

The Intl. Sign Assn. (ISA) and the Outdoor Adv. Assn. of America (OAAA) have jointly presented a proposal to the American Society of Civil Engineers/Structural Engineering Institute (ASCE/SEI) in an effort to revise wind-load requirements outlined in its design criteria referred to as the 7 standard. The 7 standard’s criteria were adopted and referenced in the Intl. Building Code, which serves as a reference point for local building codes nationwide.

According to ISA, the standards, which were originally adopted by the ASCE in 2005 and repeated in the more recent specifications, substantially increase construction costs for all freestanding sign structures, while not enhancing sign performance. When the standards were originally sent out for review, both organizations made presentations at ASCE headquarters to highlight concerns that revisions might not be suitable for commercial-grade sign structures.

In 2007, ISA and OAAA began jointly sponsoring research that was conducted at Texas Tech Univ.’s Wind Science and Engineering (WISE) Research Center in Lubbock, TX. The study involved construction and testing of both a full-scale, outdoor sign structure, and scale-model signs that were analyzed in the facility’s wind-tunnel lab.