Assessing the options for more efficient road pavement markings

Summary

Efficiency and durability of road markings do not depend only on the used products, but are influenced by many parameters such as road surface, traffic flow, weather conditions, road lighting. A scientific approach is needed to define a methodology for in-situ measurement able to take into account all these parameters.

Implementing sustainable mobility

After the analysis of the state of art of the optical properties of road markings and of their characterization, the implementation of the measure consisted of:  Selection of 27 measurement sites together with the Municipality of Perugia and execution of two measurement campaigns according to European standard (EN 1436);  Collection and analysis of measurement results; definition of an innovative rating system CIS-Q  that considers all the evaluated parameters and expresses them in terms of a single number;  Data analysis of costs of road markings and definition of several budget scenarios; introduction of an innovative rating system CIS-C related to the economic aspects;  Application of the defined methodology in a partner city (Bath, UK).

The main objective of the measure is to develop a methodology to verify the efficiency of road pavement markings depending on installation conditions and available technologies. The results will allow the municipality’s road marking department to use the novel procedures to control the quality of works performed by contractors, in order to obtain safer roads. The innovative aspects are:  an assessment of the global performance of road markings in terms of visibility, skid resistance and costs thanks to the introduction of two new indicators;  the definition of a standard procedure to evaluate the work of contractors on road marking contracts.

Progress

Municipalities usually undertake road marking maintenance through the combined use of their internal staff and outside contractors. The evaluation of the work of external contractors is often done only in a qualitative manner. The measure wants to give municipalities a tool to verify and judge the quality of road markings by means of a scientific and experimental approach. This approach considers many parameters affecting the quality of road markings, such as road surface, traffic flow, weather conditions, road lighting. The definition of two new synthetic indicators, CIS-Q (CiViTAS Indicator for Stripes – Quality) and CIS-C (CiViTAS Indicator for Stripes – Cost) allows to rate the global efficiency in terms of technical performance and cost of a municipality road markings management.

Outcomes

The measurements carried out in Perugia showed that the quality of road markings is often poorer than the one suggested by EN 1436. In 2010 CIS-Q was 6.6/10 that dropped at 4.9/10 in 2012. This situation is very common at urban level due to the limited budget. For instance the budget yearly allocated by the Municipality of Perugia could allow maintaining in good conditions only 6 % of road markings on its road network. Thus an economic analysis was carried out to suggest which materials should be used to reduce the costs of maintenance. In addition to the scheduled campaigns, CIRIAF performed additional activities for the Municipality of Perugia in order to verify the work undertaken by external contractors. This led to the redefinition of the requirements contained in public tenders works, containing stricter controls. The results of the activity were disseminated within international conferences; in particular a meeting on the measure was organized in Perugia in May 2012.