Pavement Markings and Striping Issues
Posted by Jesse Willoughby on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 @ 04:57 PM
Pavement Markings Issues
Pavement marking effectiveness is based mostly on the durability and the visibility of the markings. Durability is
usually tracked by the simple amount of material remaining on the pavement surface over time, but can be more
scientifically tracked by measuring the bond strength of the material to the surface. Visibility related mostly to the
brightness and reflective nature of the material. Glass beads mixed into the pavement marking traffic grade paint
can add to the visibility by greatly increasing the material's retro-reflection characteristics.
Fading
Faded pavement markings and parking stall lines make these important traffic control devices invisible to
customers, tenants and other motorists, leading to potentially dangerous outcomes. Arrows, stop bars, and other
traffic control markings ensure the proper flow of traffic and optimize customer flow in and out of parking lots. Fire
lanes, curbing and no parking zones ensure that vehicles will not be parked in important areas and potentially
block emergency response vehicles. Furthermore, faded parking lines lead to insufficient use of parking lot space
and leading to less customer and tenant parking than the parking lot space will allow, including accessible parking
spaces.
Pavement Markings on Fresh Sealcoat
Although thermoplastic paint are the ideal type of pavement marking on sealcoated surfaces, water-based or
latex-based paints are far more economically feasible relative to their durability and visibility. Water-based or
latex-based traffic grade paints must be applied, however, after the sealcoat has properly cured; this curing can
take as little as a few hours depending on sun exposure, humidity, traffic conditions and other variables. If
sufficient curing time is not allowed for the sealcoat, traffic grade paint will being to "bleed" and discolored.
Furthermore, excess traffic on fresh sealcoat will also "scar" the pavement markings with tacky sealcoat that has
come onto vehicle tires and is tracked onto fresh pavement markings. All of these potential issues can be
avoided by allowing sealcoat proper dry times before applying pavement markings.