2019 pavement markers, striping contract awarded

WHY IS IT HARD TO SEE FOG LINES AND CENTERLINES ON HIGHWAYS AT NIGHT?

HIGHWAY DISTRICT 12 (Friday, April 19, 2019) – Even as a contract to stripe roads is awarded in Frankfort, motorists complain that the painted lines on the highways are difficult to see in the dark, especially in fog or rain. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet hopes to answer these complaints in Highway District 12 over the next three months.

Oglesby Construction, Inc. of Norwalk, Ohio, was awarded a contract March 4, 2019, in the amount of $744,794.84 for waterborne paint striping on more than 847 roadway miles in District 12. The work will be done this summer, with a completion date of August 15. While there is no definite start date, Adam Reichert, an official with Oglesby, said work will begin sometime next month. The plan is to complete the work county by county; in other words, the routes included in this year’s contract in one county will be striped and then the contractor will move to the next county. “You may not see this work underway where you live until June, July, even August,” said D12 Information Officer Sara George. “That just means the crew hasn’t worked its way to your county yet.”

The contractor creates what is called a “moving work zone,” as George explained the work. “There is a broom truck in front of the striper truck,” she explained. “The broom truck actually sweeps the highway before the paint is applied. Then for safety reasons, there is another vehicle behind the paint truck, to caution motorists not to pass or interfere with the vehicles as they slowly move along the roadway.”

If a driver believes that this moving work zone has somehow caused striping paint to get on his/her vehicle, other than the tires (where it will wear off), the person and number to call is Lisa Gillen at Oglesby Construction, 419-668-8204. If you prefer, you can email Lisa at lisag@oglesby.net.

In addition to striping, a separate contract calls for pavement markers to be installed on the following routes: US 23 in Lawrence, Johnson, Floyd, Pike, and Letcher; KY 80 in Floyd and Knott; US 460 in Johnson; KY 321 in Johnson; KY 645 in Lawrence; KY 15 in Letcher; and KY 1426 and KY 3496 in Pike.

George said that freshly painted striping will not necessarily resolve the visibility issues, particularly if the area experiences the same amount of rainfall this year as it did last year. “There are glass beads imbedded in the striping paint,” she explained. “When your headlights hit the beads, they reflect the light back to you. This is called retro-reflectivity. When those glass beads are wet, the light bounces off the water on the beads in all different directions rather than back to the driver, so you cannot see the striping.”

In the 416 days from January 1, 2018 through February 20, 2019, the area had 213 days of rain (52.2%). “For more than a year,” George pointed out, “we have had rain more days than not. The ground is soaked, the roads are wet more often than not, and the glass beads in the paint used to stripe the roads is wet most of the time.”

George is optimistic that dry weather will prevail during the coming year. “Most reliable weather forecasters anticipate that 2019-2020 will be drier than 2018, and we are counting on that.”

Eventually, George said, all roads in the state’s Primary System will revert to thermoplastic striping, which was used in the early 2000s. Starting with this year’s June 21 bid-letting, resurfacing and pavement rehabilitation projects will be upgraded to thermoplastic or Type I Tape. Meanwhile, however, unless a road is completely resurfaced or rehabilitated, the striping will continue to be waterborne paint. “Thermoplastic and waterborne don’t play well together,” George explained. “So unless you are putting down brand new pavement, it is not wise use of taxpayers’ money to try to apply thermoplastic over waterborne paint. This means it will take a while to get all the primary roads in District 12 back to thermoplastic, which does not have the reflectivity issues inherent in waterborne paint infused with glass beads.”

Routes to be striped under the contract with Oglesby Construction, listed by county, include the following:

JOHNSON COUNTY
KY 40, white lines and edge lines, mp 11.872-23.269.
KY 172, yellow and edge, mp 0.0-12.370.
KY 302, white and edge, mp 0.0-6.486.
KY 321, white and edge, mp 0.0-8.791.
KY 581, white and edge, mp 0.0-4.575.
KY 581, white and edge, mp 6.776-11.209.
KY 825, white and edge, mp 0.0-1.165.
KY 825, yellow, white, and edge, mp 1.165-1.417.
KY 825, white and edge, mp 1.417-5.115.
KY 825, yellow, mp 5.115-14.105.
KY 993, white and edge, mp 0.0-1.290.
KY 1100, yellow, mp 0.0-0.334.
KY 1107, yellow, mp 0.0-0.931.
KY 1100, yellow, white, edge, mp 3,329-4.988.
KY 1100, yellow, 4.988-6.483.
KY 1145, white and edge, mp 0.0-1.239.
KY 1428, yellow, mp 2.897-3.290.
KY 1559, white and edge, mp 0.0-1.933.
KY 1624, yellow, mp 0.0-3.020.
KY 1750, yellow, mp 0.0-3.980.
KY 2039, yellow, mp 0.0-3.031.
KY 2040, white and edge, mp 0.0–.180.
KY 2040, yellow, white, and edge, mp 2.290-3.229.
KY 2318, white and edge, mp 0.0-0.150.
KY 2333, yellow, mp 0.0-0.647.
KY 2378, yellow, mp 0.0-0.125.
KY 2381, yellow and edge, mp 0.0-2.191.
KY 2560, yellow, mp 0.0-0.423.
KY 3389, white and edge, mp 0.0-0.822.

LAWRENCE COUNTY
KY 3, white lines and edge lines, mp 0.0-34.479.
KY 3S, white and edge, mp 0.0-0.135.
KY 32C, white and edge, mp 0.0-0.234.
KY 201, white and edge, mp 0.0-18.069.
KY 469, yellow, white, and edge, mp 0.0-2.002.
KY 644, yellow, mp 0.0-2.821.
KY 1715, yellow, mp 0.0-5.6.
KY 1760, yellow, mp 0.0-5.4.
KY 1760, yellow, mp 7.430-9.630.
KY 2037, white and edge, mp 0.0-3.623.
KY 2563, yellow, mp 0.0-0.348.
KY 2566, yellow, mp 0.0-1.110.
KY 3395, white and edge, mp 0.0-1.354.
KY 3396, yellow, white, and edge, mp 0.0-0.125.
KY 3396, white and edge, mp 0.125-2.424.
KY 3397, white and edge, mp 0.0-1.573.
KY 3399, white and edge, mp 0.0-3.615.