You likely come into contact with traffic striping on your commute to work, while walking your dog or when out for a leisurely bike ride. Simply put, traffic striping is the paint that is applied by road crews to the streets to ensure that drivers stay in their lanes and know where turn areas are. They're also used to designate pedestrian crosswalk areas and can even be applied to community sidewalks to designate which areas of the path are for walking and biking.
The primary purpose that traffic striping serves is safety; it helps drivers know the widths of their lanes and where the proper turn lanes start and begin. Many stripings are white in color, which helps drivers as they navigate in darkness. Road striping lines feature a property known as "retro reflectivity," which helps the driver better see boundaries during the night.
According to Highways Maintenance, the paint used for traffic striping is typically a thermoplastic-like mixture consisting of silica sand, a binding agent, white coloring pigment and glass beads. The sand and binding agent hold the paint together, while the white pigment accounts for the coloring, and the glass beads help give the paint a reflective shine. This quick-drying paint can be driven on only eight hours after it is applied.
Because of the various agents in traffic striping paint, it has to be specially manufactured. The availability of such paint was an issue in 2010 after the economy took a hit and suppliers were scrambling to meet demand for such products, states the Cleveland Plain Dealer. According to the May 2010 article "Traffic Striping Paint in Short Supply," many of the ingredients for traffic paint are exported from China. As China's domestic demand for these chemicals rose, it limited the amount that they exported. This put several striping jobs on hold; however, the Plain Dealer further reported that the lack of availability of the paint was a short-term problem.
Like all paints, traffic striping paint will generally fade. According to the City of Des Moines, Iowa, paint may need to be reapplied as frequently as every year. There are several factors that contribute to how quickly this paint wears; some of these include what type of road the paint was applied on, how heavy the traffic is on the road, weather conditions and the quality of paint applied. According to the site, thermoplastic-based paints are the most durable to use and can last for several years.
