Lane Lines Still Several Weeks Away
Prince George, B.C. – According to a report to City Council, road lane markings may not start until the first of June in Prince George.
In a report that will be received by Council at Monday’s regular meeting, General Manager of Public Works, Dave Dyer, lays out the details on the pavement marking procedures.
First step is the removal of all the grit that was put in place over the winter. “Street sweeping of paintable roadways needs to be complete to ensure a successful paint bond with the existing asphalt” reads the report. Then crews have to lay out a guide for the contractor to follow.
Temperature plays a role in the work, as the report notes the “ambient air temperature needs to be 10 Celsius” in order for the paint to dry quickly. The report also says there needs to be lots of daylight in the early morning hours so the work can be done without endangering the workers during times of peak traffic volumes.
There are two contracts for the work, one is for the hand painting of pedestrian crosswalks, stop bars and directional arrows. There are more than 1600 hand painting areas. The other contract is for lineal painting for lane markings. There are nearly 460 kms of lineal markings to be done this year.
Yellowhead Pavement Markings holds both contracts, taking over the work following a substandard job last year by two other contractors.
Then there is the issue of the type of paint that is used. Environment Canada restricts the type of paint that can be used on seasonal road marking paint ( applied between May 1st and Oct 15th) and Prince George falls under that classification. The problem is the type of paint allowed doesn’t hold up in high traffic areas.
The Ministry of Transportation has been testing some other paints, having laid out some strips on Highway 97 between Sintich Road and the Old Cariboo Highway. Results of that test showing which allowable mix stood up to traffic volumes and weather conditions, are not yet available.
The City’s Public works Department will be conducting an experiment of its own, putting down a second layer of paint this fall, on 15th Avenue from Foothills to Highway 97 . If it turns out that a second painting can last the winter, staff will look at the costs involved in making it an annual event.
Comments
The paint on the Hart Highway seems to have survived the winter. Why not use the same kind in the city?
The Hart IS part of the City
Not the Highway.
Can SOMEBODY please get the idea to check with other WINTER cities what kind of paint they are using and what their results are? I can’t believe for how many years these local experiments with different kinds of paint have been going on! Use email, snail mail, the phone…a tele conference!
Restricted by environment Canada. Hey dudes what is pavement made out of? What about all the chemicals, oil, tire dust etc, and these dudes are worried about a little paint.
I am not to sure that this issue is about the environment. I think they were trying to cut costs and the contractor supplied the cheapest paint he could find. Have to agree with Prince George. Maybe try Google and they might learn something.
Please people,remember that on double lane roads without markings, it does not make them three lanes. Pulled over on 15th Ave to answer my phone and had a driver pull up behind me and start honking. Other two lanes flowing fine.
Environment Canada restricts the type of paint that can be used on seasonal road marking paint ( applied between May 1st and Oct 15th)…so if they paint in April they can use paint that will last? They should get started ASAP then.
As others stated Environment Canada regulations prevent the use of long lasting paints that contain oils, lead or any other harmful material to the environment
Almost all paint used ironically is now water based and has a limited road life requiring regular re-applications
how about embedding reflectors into the road… it won’t help the paint issue much but it will define the lanes and last a lot longer….
I guess you have never seen a grader before?
if they are installed correctly a grader should not touch them.
Almost all road marking paints used have glass beads mixed in to help with reflectivity at night
So Canada has regulations as far as paint for road markings is concerned. Fine! Are all other cities in B.C. and Canada experimenting year after year in order to find a paint that lasts? Come on, start communicating with them and find out once and for all who has made progress and who has found the longest lasting paint through experimentation! If that is too much effort and too time consuming, ask the Federal Government to do all the testing and to order all cities to use a paint that has been found to be the best!
I just hope when they get done they are straighter this time :-)
I wonder if we are going to get the same driver as last year with the nervous twitch painting the lines
Yep its all about the environment, Use water based paint that you need to repaint every two years, or use the good stuff that last 7-8 years.
So the water based or oil based. It likely still has the glass beads, and pigments. So the pigments and glass beads all end up in the sewage treatment plant, because of the storm system.
When the oil paint wears out, it wears out because the sun breaks down the oil, and evaporates the oil into the atmosphere. The actual amount of oil that ends up in the sewage treatment plants becomes pretty low.
So the question is, if you consider the 4 x production of the glass beads, and pigments, adhesive products, the fuel used by the vehicle, replacement of equipment, vs the one time petroleum based paint, glass beads and pigments. Which one has the bigger carbon foot print.
I bet the “environmentally friendly product” is really not that friendly.
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