The road marking revolution

For many years improvements in road markings have been evolutionary. Durability and performance of paints and thermoplastics have gradually increased with better knowledge and availability of raw materials. There have been few major advances. Hot paints, spray applied plastics and tapes have all found their place in the highway engineer's armoury. Recent demands by engineers have, however, caused some more revolutionary trends: increased traffic has provoked the need for more durable materials, which in many countries are now being evaluated in performance trials which give some basis for a whole life costing. The paper reviews these trends and explains the benefits and disadvantages of the new systems currently emerging.