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Line Striping & Pavement Markings
 The
Highway Department is responsible for maintaining pavement markings (solid and
dashed) on the County roads. All
surfaces are swept via the use of a broom truck prior to painting. In
addition, the Sign Shop/Line Stripers perform a test pattern to determine that
the proper width, spacing, thickness, bead spray and general painting pattern is
achieved.
Maintaining
pavement markings is expensive. The 2005 program cost approximately $106,000 in
paint & glass bead materials alone . A portion of this program also
went into durable marking work (preformed thermoplastic markings) which are used
for stop bars, channelizing lines, railroad crossings, crosswalks, turn arrows
& "ONLY"s.
Durability
Several
factors effect the durability of painted pavement markings. Some of these are
the traffic volume, the number and severity of snow storms, curves in the road,
age of the pavement (newer pavements absorb more paint leaving less on the
surface where needed), and paint formulation.
All
pavement markings are retro-reflective, meaning they reflect light from
headlights back toward the driver. This is accomplished by applying glass beads
into the wet paint. As the line
wears, the beads on the surface wear off, while new beads are being uncovered.
MUTCD
Specifications
Sight
distance, alignment and placement of all pavement markings is always in
accordance with general traffic engineering practices and in compliance with the
Manual
of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
Maintenance
of Traffic
Traffic
must be maintained at all times during pavement marking applications. A
combination of traffic cones, barrels and barricades, are all used for early
warning at lane closures and a “chase truck” with appropriate warning lights
and signs is required to keep traffic out of the fresh paint.
STAY OUT OF THE WET PAINT!
Every
year the Engineer’s Office receives complaints that we sprayed their vehicle
with paint. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. There
is no overspray from the line striping operation.
Paint on vehicles occurs when drivers disregard the cones, lights and
warning signs and drive through freshly painted lines.
We use a water based paint with glass beads applied immediately behind
the paint application. The newly
painted lines take about 5 -7 minutes to dry.
Please be patient and allow this process to finish…
The Engineer’s Office is not responsible for this damage.
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