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These safety projects are done by the gallon
The start of spring marks the beginning of the painting season for traffic maintenance crews, who also do other safety work such as replacing stop signs. Jenson said a five-person crew just spent four months working both night and day shifts to check the condition and reflectivity of the pavement markings and roadside signage countywide, plus traffic engineers inventoried all the roads to see if buttons were missing or damaged. Now, the focus switches to completing all the projects on that lengthy to-do list. This year’s work program started on March 31 and will continue for several months. Approximately $1 million is budgeted for the safety maintenance work this year. “We’ll be painting now through October on every dry day that we can,” said Jenson. “On each day that we paint, we’ll be going through about 400 gallons of yellow and another 400 gallons of white.”
All of the yellow and most of the white paint is a traditional mixture that can be laid down on the street in long continuous lines by a truck with paint nozzles attached to the undercarriage. It has drying agents added to it, so that the top surface dries in less than two minutes. It means the roadway is drivable almost immediately, and traffic does not have to be delayed very long by the painting crews. Jenson said the long-line striping throughout the county is repainted at least once a year, with a twice-a-year schedule on busy arterial roads. The white markings used for crosswalks and arrows are done with a thermoplastic paint that has to be applied using a handcart. It is much more durable for high-traffic areas, but also more expensive. Jenson said those markings are usually repainted every three to five years depending on how much wear-and-tear traffic volumes in that location create. Safety buttons – also called turtles – are used on the edge of the yellow centerline and on white travel lane lines to help with the reflectivity. They are usually installed every 40 feet along the roadway. They are replaced on a three-year cycle, and when they go missing or get damaged. The maintenance crews also install rumble strips of varying types and designs in areas where motorists need an advance warning about changing traffic conditions. “The other thing we usually do around April 1 is to take down our ‘Watch out for ice’ signs,” said Jenson. “But I think this year, we’re going to leave them up for a few more weeks.” Residents in unincorporated King County are encouraged to report any safety problems on county roads by calling (206) 296-8100 or 1-800 KC ROADS. The phone line is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. |
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