Road Lines and Markings will use Brighter Paint for more Retroreflectivity

A bunch of professors armed with a gadget called a "retroreflect-o-meter" say painted roadway markings like the stripes dividing lanes are much more effective if they're applied in the same direction the traffic flows.

That may seem like a classic "so what" kind of discovery, but the researchers behind the North Carolina State University study (.pdf) say the findings could help state and federal highway authorities comply with forthcoming federal safety regulations and save millions of dollars on paint.

Some 60 percent of the nation's roads are marked with paint, and study co-author Dr. Joseph Hummer says the "retroreflectivity values" of such markings are higher in the direction of the striping. In other words, the paint reflects more light if the paint truck is going the same direction as traffic. The difference is equivalent to about a year of wear and tear, meaning the markings will look "one year newer" if you're going the same direction the paint truck was.

Hummer says the discovery could help federal and state transportation departments more accurately predict the frequency with which roads must be painted - an endeavor that can cost $2,000 to $3,000 per mile - and better develop a standard for measuring the brightness of painted traffic markings.


Read More at Wired.com