ForConstructionPros.com

It wasn't that long ago, especially in the Midwest, that rare was the highway that relied on raised pavement markers to improve safety. But as research showed the impact raised markers can have on keeping drivers in their lanes, and as technology improved so markers are now "plowable," many states began requiring raised markers on their state roads, in addition to many federal highways.

In Indiana (as well as Illinois and Kentucky) that frequently means that M.A.S. Markers gets the job. Owned by Michele Johnson, president, M.A.S. specializes in installing, removing, and replacing raised pavement markers. Michele's husband, Steve Johnson, is operations manager and he says that virtually all of M.A.S.'s income is generated from the markers that delineate the center of roads, lanes, and in some cases the pavement edge.

Steve Johnson says the raised marker installation business is extremely competitive, with six competing contractors in Indiana, five in Kentucky, five in the Chicago metro area, and five more throughout the rest of Illinois.

"But we specialize in this business," he says. "Most all the contractors we compete with offer traffic control services (as a subcontractor) and striping in addition to marker installation. But marker installation is all we do. It's what we know."

And over the years it's what M.A.S. Markers has become known for, perfecting what had at one time been a slow, labor-intensive, and unsafe operation.