Lately there have been discussions in another thread about roadway maintenance methods for things like snow removal, recycling pavements and other things. It was a thread about using lighting tools in light pollution (or not) while performing a job called Night Shift.
I figure this one can incorparate ideas and principles of a variety of subjects in a platform meant for the variety of thoughts and ideas.
I'll begin with placing the stripes on a busy roadway. In a duty this evening a contractor will be placing super heated plastic onto a new asphalt that will be arrows in turn lanes. The plastic will be all white in color. But at times roadways get yellow stripes too. That color is meant to divide the directions of traffic. In the US the yellow stripe(s) on the drivers left mean stay to the right of the line or face oncoming vehicles. It's pretty basic really. However the products used need to with stand heat, cold, scraping by snow plows, repeated wheels driving over it, and last for decades. They have thousands of tiny glass spheres per foot in length within the striping material to cause light to reflect back to the driver at night. Often the line itself holds up just dandy, but the tiny glass spheres disappear over time leaving the stripe (called marking in the industry) looking dull at night, or worse non existent when it rains at night.
A lot goes into placing the stripes, or removing stripes for whatever reason and adding new. Sometimes water based paint is used. Sometimes alkalids, sometimes liquid plastic. Sometimes super tape is used. The federal government decided what product goes where a long time ago. In my state they often pick up 90% of the cost so if they say use paint, paint is used. But they use my state and others like Texas, PA and Ohio to test new ideas. In the 1990's for example they wanted to try out non petroleum based paints and use water based instead. It's now a nation wide thing but at some point it had to be tried out and eventually developed into something that lasted as long as the petroleum based paint(s). Yellow was the hardest to perfect. White was easy, but the yellow either faded or turned orange making it harder to see after dark.
Anyway, bring on the topics. Why do potholes happen? Why does an asphalt road ride smoother than concrete? What do they use to remove snow? Who picked the colors of roadway signs?
Lets talk about it.
I figure this one can incorparate ideas and principles of a variety of subjects in a platform meant for the variety of thoughts and ideas.
I'll begin with placing the stripes on a busy roadway. In a duty this evening a contractor will be placing super heated plastic onto a new asphalt that will be arrows in turn lanes. The plastic will be all white in color. But at times roadways get yellow stripes too. That color is meant to divide the directions of traffic. In the US the yellow stripe(s) on the drivers left mean stay to the right of the line or face oncoming vehicles. It's pretty basic really. However the products used need to with stand heat, cold, scraping by snow plows, repeated wheels driving over it, and last for decades. They have thousands of tiny glass spheres per foot in length within the striping material to cause light to reflect back to the driver at night. Often the line itself holds up just dandy, but the tiny glass spheres disappear over time leaving the stripe (called marking in the industry) looking dull at night, or worse non existent when it rains at night.
A lot goes into placing the stripes, or removing stripes for whatever reason and adding new. Sometimes water based paint is used. Sometimes alkalids, sometimes liquid plastic. Sometimes super tape is used. The federal government decided what product goes where a long time ago. In my state they often pick up 90% of the cost so if they say use paint, paint is used. But they use my state and others like Texas, PA and Ohio to test new ideas. In the 1990's for example they wanted to try out non petroleum based paints and use water based instead. It's now a nation wide thing but at some point it had to be tried out and eventually developed into something that lasted as long as the petroleum based paint(s). Yellow was the hardest to perfect. White was easy, but the yellow either faded or turned orange making it harder to see after dark.
Anyway, bring on the topics. Why do potholes happen? Why does an asphalt road ride smoother than concrete? What do they use to remove snow? Who picked the colors of roadway signs?
Lets talk about it.
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