By Carl Watson


Motorists and pedestrians who use roads rely on pavement markings to use the road safely because these markings hold vital information. Standards and regulations enforced by the local, state and federal governments must be followed in marking roads. This is to ensure there is uniformity on the roads and that information the markings hold is uniform. When one needs experts in line striping Maryland offers the perfect location to visit.

There is a wide range of materials that are used to mark roads today. The choice of material is supposed to be done in a way that achieves certain goals. Some of the goals that need to be achieved are appropriate service life, cost effectiveness, and compatibility with the site. The Department of Transportation is the government body in the US that is charged with ensuring safety on all road systems in the US.

There are great differences in the cost and service life of various materials used to mark roads. The effectiveness of the materials on different surfaces also varies. However, how the material will perform on the pavement depends on the type of roadway surface, volume of traffic, and environmental conditions in the area. Pavement markings in different places are affected differently by these factors.

When considering weather, abrasion caused by snow removal activities is responsible for the most damage to pavement. Snow plowing equipment routinely cause friction and leave markings damaged, especially in places where snow happens heavily. This is shown by rapid deterioration of markings in places where snow is removed more frequently.

However, the effect of snow plows can be handled by using recess pavement markings. With recess markings, the marking materials are installed in grooves, meaning that they cannot be accessed by snow removal machines. Even though the marking stays longer with recess marking, the cost of installing them is usually more as compared to normal marking.

The type of surface on which the marking material is applied can also affect its durability a lot. Surfaces such as Portland cement concrete and hot-mix asphalt have been known to affect the bonding characteristic of marking materials. That means that the bonding characteristic of the material is usually affected by the surface, which in turn affects durability. The volume of traffic experienced by a place usually affects durability of markings a lot. More traffic leads to faster deterioration.

A number of materials have been approved by the Department of Transportation to be used for marking. Such materials include epoxy, thermoplastic, preformed plastic, polyuria, water based paint, and modified urethane. The materials are available in different forms. For material in any form to be used, it must be approved by the Department of Transportation. Compatibility occurs in some materials, but not in all.

In case of re-striping, it is important for the material used to be compatible with the already existing one. If not, then the existing materials must be scrapped completely before re-striping is done. To achieve expected service life, certain conditions must exist during the installation process. There are several factors that must be observed. The major ones are material application rate, wind velocity, pavement surface condition, pavement surface moisture, material temperature, ambient temperature, and pavement temperature among others.




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