Reading Between the Lines: How CDOT Enhances the Customer Experience Through Improving Striping on Highways
By Michael J. Shull and Michael Avery, Interns, CDOT Office of Process Improvement
April 13, 2018
Picture this: you are sitting in your car, thumbing through texts while listening to music and talking to your colleagues, all while you are commuting to work in your vehicle during rush-hour traffic. The flow of traffic is moving smoothly—no crashes or severe slowdowns. The best part of this story is that nobody is driving the car. You are cruising as your autonomous vehicle navigates the roadway, reading between the lines. Those lines are the stripes that line our roadways across the State and are a major focus when considering futuristic roadway advancements. Therefore, it is imperative that improvements are made to our striping infrastructure in order to align with the future of our roadways.
This story might sound like a fictional scene from the 1980’s movie series, Back to the Future. Nonetheless, autonomous vehicles are real, and the infrastructure that supports them is a high priority for CDOT.
You might remember the CDOT sponsored an autonomous beer truck delivering over 45,000 cans of Budweiser from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Believe it or not, roadway striping played a paramount role in the success of this autonomous trip.
Blinded by No Light
Striping Improvement is one of many valuable base camps listed on CDOT’s three peaks poster—a snapshot of CDOT’s vision along with satisfying projects in which hundreds of public employees work effortlessly on to achieve that vision. CDOT’s Statewide Manager of Traffic Engineering Charles Meyer co-chair of the Striping Improvement Task Force states “Without striping on our roadways, autonomous vehicles would be blind to the proximities of their lane.”
Highway HOV lanes separated with striping
Guiding You Through Danger
Sprayed onto the pavement with precise measurement, and covered with tiny glass beads for reflectivity, roadway stripes help the motoring public navigate the dangers that exist on CDOT’s roads. As seen in the picture to the left, the solid yellow line helps motorists identify areas of the roadway that could be used for emergency parking, such as the early model Ford Explorer that rests on the left shoulder of the South-bound I-25 lanes. This motorist is in a dangerous situation, nonetheless, that danger is reduced because the yellow stripe separates the travel lanes from the shoulder helping guide motorists passed the disabled vehicle.
Why Improve Striping?
There is more to striping than simply hiring a third-party contractor or sending dedicated CDOT crews with a striping truck down the roadway to apply stripes. “Striping is an expensive asset that helps safely guide our motoring public down our roadways” Meyer explains. According to a 2014 striping improvement memorandum, CDOT budgets over $28M annually for striping efforts—another estimated $10M annually is needed to improve the striping program. “That is why we need to quantify the longevity of our stripes while picking the right materials to apply, ensuring that Colorado is utilizing our assets efficiently and effectively.”
Varying Levels of Wear
CDOT’s roads face varying levels of wear and tear depending on regional differences. The roadway in Grand Junction, Colorado sees high temperatures and increased UV exposure, degrading the stripes. Conversely, Central and Front Range Colorado regions experience extremely cold and adverse weather conditions which presents unique maintenance treatments, such as the snow-plowing and sanding operations seen in the picture to the right.
Depending on the materials used and the environments those materials are applied in, striping can last anywhere from 1-6 years. Thus, measuring retro-reflectivity and tracking longevity are becoming essential in the striping improvement effort.
Snow plows and icy conditions are another example of wear on the painted stripes
The Complaint
One of the top complaints from drivers on Colorado highways regards striping. The elements of nature, road maintenance, and normal driving conditions constantly erode striping. RoadX Director Peter Kozinski says, “striping of the future might not look like it does today.” Considering the recent hype about autonomous vehicles, striping plays an important role in keeping those vehicles on the road. Kozinski explains that “My job is to keep motorists as safe as possible, and working with CDOT’s internal experts to improve striping while maximizing other advancing technologies will play an important role with this directive.”
Current USDOT Standards for Striping?
Future autonomous vehicle projects will be at the mercy of various striping practices across the world, and that is something that CDOT is looking to improve through enhanced striping standards. Currently, there are limited national standards set by the US Department of Transportation for striping retro-reflectivity and longevity, according to Meyer. Meyer explains that several enhancements have been made to striping practices in Colorado, due to the efforts of a statewide striping task force formed in 2014. Nevertheless, quantifiable metrics regarding CDOT striping longevity are limited. 2017 marks the beginning of gathering verifiable metrics in order to form valid baselines for improvement. Office of Process Improvement Director Gary Vansuch supports the development of striping baselines, explaining that, “in order to improve a process or a system, you must have some idea of what to improve, and how much: metrics, even if imperfect, to form a basis for improvement. Once you have that baseline, future improvements can be measured and assessed for validity and impact to the CDOT Peaks, Basecamps, and Trailheads.”
Striping will experience various wear and tear based on how it was applied to begin with and the conditions of the roadway
Benchmarking Striping Improvement
Meyer expresses that numerous improvements have been implemented since 2014. Nonetheless, CDOT has not had a verifiable way to measure striping longevity. Thus, beginning in 2017, CDOT has incorporated advanced measuring practices using innovative technology that will systematically measure the retro-reflectivity of its striping. Forming these benchmarks will help CDOT quantify and improve the striping infrastructure in Colorado, setting new standards to improve the customer experience on CDOT’s roadways.
Future Striping Improvements
Catching up on emails or watching a movie while your vehicle takes you to work might be a thing of the future. Nevertheless, forming a foundation for that futuristic vision is paramount, and striping plays a fundamental role in that vision. Whether the lines that guide us down the road are physically visible to the human eye, or they are GPS sensors embedded into the pavement, we need stripes in order to guide a network of vehicles down our roadways. This foundation is exactly what the dedicated employees of CDOT are looking to improve to become the best DOT in America, providing an outstanding system that improves the drivers’ experience in Colorado.
Freshly painted striping on a roadway