Evaluation of Durable Pavement Markings
"high-quality" or "durable". These materials are intended to last anywhere from 3 to 5 years without needing maintenance or a
reapplication.
Since 2004, any construction project with a design life of ten years or greater was is required to use high-quality pavement
marking materials on state trunklines. MDOT also uses durable markings where a typical one-year product won't last the
entire season or if it is part of a planned durable marking corridor.
Durable marking products can be considerably more expensive than the one-year products typically used in the annual
pavement marking contracts, but if they can be placed at "higher than typical" retroreflectivity and retain higher retroreflectivity
significantly longer then they may have a positive safety impact.
MDOT would like to research how effective the durable markings are in improving visibility and determine if there is any
correlation between durable markings and crash reduction.
