Striping for safety

For those concerned with the math, two pieces of striping equipment and five workers does not add up. But Frank says no one was left standing around. ?The crew I had was doing the parallelograms and the chevrons at the same time. You had people not only moving the templates but you?re also putting beads down to give it the reflectivity. And after you go a little ways your templates are getting paint on them so you need to stop, hang up your templates in a drip pan, and physically scrape them down so you?re not getting paint all over the road. That?s why I had the number of people we had,? he says. ?Between the templates, beading, and layout, it took a number of people to do.?

Although Century Fence had never done a converging chevron pattern before, Frank says the process of striping wasn?t much different from other projects. The stencil work was similar to striping a crosswalk and the long lines weren?t much different than normal highway lines, according to Frank. The edge lines and skip lines were brought in a few inches, but the biggest difference was the size of the templates.

About four years after the original installation, Century Fence did a paint touch-up to the chevron markings. ?It was a fun job to do because it was something unique and very different,? Frank says.

Heydel says to his knowledge this is the only case of the converging chevron pattern used in Wisconsin. And he isn?t aware of any other states that have used it on a freeway or other state highway application since it is still experimental. Despite that, Heydel says WisDOT still feels the chevron pattern has been successful in reducing crashes and vehicle speeds. ?We saw a reduction on average around 5 to 7 mph. And also in the number of crashes there was approximately a 30% to 40% reduction,? Heydel says.

Franks says Century Fence doesn?t often use the converging chevron job as a marketing tool, but he says it has helped the company?s business. Since it was the first converging chevron pattern done in the U.S., Frank says the project and his company are known around the country. Plus, Century Fence has generated more, similar projects from the state of Wisconsin.

Recently, just a mile east of the converging chevron pattern, Century Fence completed the painting of a peripheral transverse pavement marking on another portion of I-94. These markings were also done as an experimental project with FHWA approval, Heydel says. Frank says he feels Century Fence was awarded this job in part because it had successfully done the chevron pattern for the state and was now familiar with this type of pavement marking.

The peripheral transverse pattern is square boxes - three squares, approximately one ft. by 18 in. each - positioned at different intervals across each lane that also gives the perception of a narrowing road, according to Frank. He says this pattern appears on more roads throughout the U.S. than the converging chevron pattern.

Similar to the 1999 project, the peripheral transverse project took Century Fence two nights to complete. However, the templates were much smaller, making the markings a lot easier to install, Frank adds. Heydel says ease of installation is one of the reasons transverse markings were used instead of chevrons. ?The transverse marking is less costly to install and easier to install,? Heydel said. ?They don?t have as high of maintenance, but yet they don?t have the same amount of impact recognition or target value either.?

Frank says he thinks the converging chevron does more than the peripheral transverse because the chevrons are more eye and attention catching. ?That?s why I?d really like to see these chevrons in a few more areas,? Frank says. The converging chevron pattern has not been approved for use yet by the FHWA, according to Heydel. But that?s not to say approval isn?t possible in the future once the FHWA can see the results of the transverse markings compared to the converging chevron markings. And if that time comes, Franks says he would definitely be willing to be the pavement marking contractor who installs them.