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For the first time this summer the City has a dedicated night crews working from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. striping and marking roadways. PPRTA funding for additional Traffic Engineering crews have created the opportunity for the City to try this kind of flexible scheduling.
The night work allows crews to tackle the City’s busiest intersections when most people are home in bed. This means less congestion and better safety for drivers.
The City’s nighttime traffic engineering crews stripe road lanes, mark crosswalks, spray thermoplastic legends (generally the word “school” for school zones and a bicyclist symbol for bicycle lanes) and mark the stop bars at signalized intersections. Currently, the City’s Traffic Engineering Division is in full gear making sure marked school crosswalks will be legible by the time kids head back to school. TO mark sidewalks the crews use a rolling lawnmower-sized thermoplastic extrusion machine to lay white, thermoplastic material, heated to 400 degrees, which is then followed closely by crews who sprinkle a layer of tiny reflective beads into the material. The glass beads embed into the thermoplastic and enhance visibility at dusk, dawn and night.
Traffic Engineering crews have a limited time period to get their work done because much of it requires temperatures of 50 degrees or warmer. If the weather holds, the night crews, who began this schedule in May, will continue to work nights through the end of August. On nights with poor weather the crews work indoors making road signs.
City staff would like to remind drivers to slow down and pay extra attention when approaching road work areas, especially at night.
Fast Facts:
• The City generally has six Traffic Engineering crews in total, two
(now one) have been working through the night. Crosswalk crews generally
consist of five employees. Lane striping crews are made up of three to
five employees.
• Crosswalks walks vary in size, but generally take two hours per
crosswalk for crews to complete.
• The stripes within crosswalks are located where they’ll last longer by
placing them where the vehicle tires miss the markings as the cars drive
over.
• Hiring temporary PPRTA-funded staff rather than using contractors has
resulted in better quality control and savings to taxpayers of an
estimated 300 percent per crosswalk.
• The City has about 1,200 school crosswalks. Each marked school
crosswalk throughout the City is inspected annually and 200 to 240
marked crosswalks are re-marked each year as they wear down.
• Roads are prioritized for re-striping based on need and areas
surrounding high-need areas.
• Paint striper trucks travel seven miles per hour while painting and
hold 500 gallons of latex paint. It takes about 17 gallons of paint to
paint one mile of road lane.
• The City installed more than 1,090 new “SCHOOL” legends in 8-foot tall
letters throughout the City in 2007 to warn drivers that they’re
approaching a middle or elementary school zone.
Media Opportunity:
Call to determine where crews are doing night work (weather dependent)
and set up an evening interview with Traffic Engineering Principal
Engineer Dave Krauth. Just before dusk is a good time to get photographs
or footage.