Striping Fails/Mistakes

[roadfro]

Saw this coming back from the beach on Saturday, wasn't quick enough to get a photo: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.743306,-84.390032,3a,75y,43.01h,70t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQzt_WdtM55HGxIh5a7PLZg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Looks like an adhesive striping tape that wasn't properly applied, or maybe the adhesive wasn't sufficiently sticky and has come loose over time.

[pumpkineater2]

Saw this coming back from the beach on Saturday, wasn't quick enough to get a photo: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.743306,-84.390032,3a,75y,43.01h,70t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQzt_WdtM55HGxIh5a7PLZg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I done did a good job, yes I done did!

More like "Damn, I knew I should have stayed away from the Tequila the night before that job".

"You just don't appreciate my art!  It's way ahead of it's time!"

You dun goofed!

[SignGeek101]

Isn't really a mistake per se, but I don't know what to call this. Is it option or exit lane?

https://goo.gl/maps/WadGf8zQnak

[freebrickproductions]

Isn't really a mistake per se, but I don't know what to call this. Is it option or exit lane?

https://goo.gl/maps/WadGf8zQnak

Yes.

Off-topic, but just out of wild curiosity, are you required to learn English and French in Canada? Or just one of the two depending on where you are?

[SignGeek101]

Isn't really a mistake per se, but I don't know what to call this. Is it option or exit lane?

https://goo.gl/maps/WadGf8zQnak

Yes.

Off-topic, but just out of wild curiosity, are you required to learn English and French in Canada? Or just one of the two depending on where you are?

Sort of? It's part of the curriculum in elementary school to be taught basic French (I had it in 4th-8th grade). In Ontario (where I did my schooling), it's also required for students to take one French course in high school. But no, you don't have to speak both languages fluently to graduate or anything. It helps though to be bilingual, especially for jobs. Many government jobs require both languages, though that depends too on what and where you're working.

Quebec road signs are pretty easy to understand for English speakers; the MTQ does a good job of making signs multilingual. The black on yellow part is 'exit only', though of course those words aren't there (it would be 'sortie seulement'). The yellow tabs are the exit numbers, with the upper part pointing to the direction of the exit (both right exits in this case). Cardinal directions are also pretty easy to understand: EST = EAST, NORD = NORTH, SUD = SOUTH, OUEST = WEST. In 'Federal' areas (such as border crossings), the signs must be in both English and French. An example:

https://goo.gl/maps/Pdzdw5n8siA2

Sorry for rambling. Quebec signs are my favourite from Canada in general. The Clearview is neatly done, and the mix of American and other styles makes it look unique in North America.

[Darkchylde]

Isn't really a mistake per se, but I don't know what to call this. Is it option or exit lane?

https://goo.gl/maps/WadGf8zQnak

Auxiliary lane. Though when you see them like this in the States, usually the lane ends about 100 feet to 100 yards or so past where the exit ramp peels away. (Eastbound US 190 at I-12 is a good example.)

[jakeroot]

Sorry for rambling. Quebec signs are my favourite from Canada in general. The Clearview is neatly done, and the mix of American and other styles makes it look unique in North America.

Pfff. You know you love BC.

[SignGeek101]

Sorry for rambling. Quebec signs are my favourite from Canada in general. The Clearview is neatly done, and the mix of American and other styles makes it look unique in North America.

Pfff. You know you love BC.

BC is more European IMO (APL's and traffic circle design). I didn't say I didn't like BC style, in fact I do like it too for similar reasons as Quebec. But, I'm not a fan of Helvetica under any circumstance, and I find BC still has work to do with regard to the size of the cardinal directions on BGS's.

Clearview doesn't have a lot to do with it. I like Quebec signs more than Ontario's, and Ontario uses FHWA. And I have no major problems with Ontario's signing techniques either.

[jakeroot]

Might not count because 'construction zone', but for about a mile, the Exit 132 southbound carriageway of I-5 near Tacoma, WA has all white markings. It actually looks really good against the relatively dark asphalt, but it does little to compensate for the horrid signing in the area.

[freebrickproductions]

The Drunkard's Crosswalk, in Tuscumbia, AL:
Badly Painted Crosswalk by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Badly Painted Crosswalk by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

[kendancy66]

https://goo.gl/maps/CUw5V

I doubt this was intentional.

California does that for upcoming exits. Something to do with there being heavy fog and if you can barely see, you can at least see the lines / that pattern in them.

I though this marking was to discourage cars from stopping on the part of the shoulder that is too close to the exit off ramp.

[jakeroot]

https://goo.gl/maps/CUw5V

I doubt this was intentional.

California does that for upcoming exits. Something to do with there being heavy fog and if you can barely see, you can at least see the lines / that pattern in them.

I though this marking was to discourage cars from stopping on the part of the shoulder that is too close to the exit off ramp.

It's for fog. The markings are more heavily used in Northern California where fog is a bigger issue. See page 52 of 81 of this PDF, where they are called "flared right edgelines": http://goo.gl/eZ3Gsl

[jay8g]

This is not how you do a TWLTL:
(here)

I hope this doesn't get built as shown:
(here)

The UW sucks at lane arrows...

[paulthemapguy]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of. 


Each direction of travel is about 20-22 feet wide, so traffic sorts itself into two lanes in each direction.  Surely they didn't intend for one 22' lane of travel.  Here's the location on GSV- you can see cars sorting into two lanes there, too.  File this under the "negligence" folder for striping fails.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0002432,-87.806769,3a,65.5y,2.7h,80.87t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYnHzAIy9nBfZHAU-OiX3ZA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DYnHzAIy9nBfZHAU-OiX3ZA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D99.902046%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

[Roadrunner75]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of. 

Each direction of travel is about 20-22 feet wide, so traffic sorts itself into two lanes in each direction.  Surely they didn't intend for one 22' lane of travel.  Here's the location on GSV- you can see cars sorting into two lanes there, too.  File this under the "negligence" folder for striping fails.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0002432,-87.806769,3a,65.5y,2.7h,80.87t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYnHzAIy9nBfZHAU-OiX3ZA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DYnHzAIy9nBfZHAU-OiX3ZA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D99.902046%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

If I ended up on this road and didn't know any better, I would just assume it was a single lane in each direction with parking lanes - especially with the centerline striped for passing (not a big fan of that either on urban roadways)

[jakeroot]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

[cl94]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

That was my thought. In many cities, something like that is intended to have parking on either side. Once upon a time, there were probably streetcar tracks in the middle, hence the wide ROW in many places.

[roadfro]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

That was my thought. In many cities, something like that is intended to have parking on either side. Once upon a time, there were probably streetcar tracks in the middle, hence the wide ROW in many places.

In looking at the signs in Street View, Parking appears to be allowed, except during weekday rush hours and when snow is more than 2". 

Given the residential nature of the street with no other cues, I also would have assumed only one travel lane.

[paulthemapguy]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

That was my thought. In many cities, something like that is intended to have parking on either side. Once upon a time, there were probably streetcar tracks in the middle, hence the wide ROW in many places.

In looking at the signs in Street View, Parking appears to be allowed, except during weekday rush hours and when snow is more than 2". 

Given the residential nature of the street with no other cues, I also would have assumed only one travel lane.

I think the public has kind of repurposed the road in the way they saw fit.  Maybe it's time CDOT put some kind of marking there to make things clear, whether skip dashes or parking outlines.  Of course, however, that would mean CDOT would have to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.  Sorry guys I figured out the actual problem.  The problem is that the road is in the Chicago city limits

[cl94]

NY 30 in western Schenectady County. How the hell they managed this is beyond me.

While we're in the area, classic Region 2 median striping on NY 5 in Amsterdam. That hatching pattern is R2 standard and is only found there.

[mrsman]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

That was my thought. In many cities, something like that is intended to have parking on either side. Once upon a time, there were probably streetcar tracks in the middle, hence the wide ROW in many places.

In looking at the signs in Street View, Parking appears to be allowed, except during weekday rush hours and when snow is more than 2". 

Given the residential nature of the street with no other cues, I also would have assumed only one travel lane.

I think the public has kind of repurposed the road in the way they saw fit.  Maybe it's time CDOT put some kind of marking there to make things clear, whether skip dashes or parking outlines.  Of course, however, that would mean CDOT would have to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.  Sorry guys I figured out the actual problem.  The problem is that the road is in the Chicago city limits

This example brings up an interesting question.  How do you stripe a road if you permit passing (crossing the yellow line when safe to do so) only during part of the day, but prohibit it during other parts of the day (when parking is not allowed, people should change lanes and not pass over the yellow)?  I don't believe you are allowed to have broken yellow dash and broken white dash on the same street, because it is confusing.  With sun glare, the yellow and white lines look similar. 

One possibility may be to have a broken double yellow striped along the median and broken white to differentiate the two parallel lanes.

Most streets like this in other cities are striped with a double yellow and broken white.  Drive 2 lanes during rush and drive 1 lane during non-rush - and no passing over the yellow line is ever permitted.  That is probably the safest configuration.

[paulthemapguy]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

That was my thought. In many cities, something like that is intended to have parking on either side. Once upon a time, there were probably streetcar tracks in the middle, hence the wide ROW in many places.

In looking at the signs in Street View, Parking appears to be allowed, except during weekday rush hours and when snow is more than 2". 

Given the residential nature of the street with no other cues, I also would have assumed only one travel lane.

I think the public has kind of repurposed the road in the way they saw fit.  Maybe it's time CDOT put some kind of marking there to make things clear, whether skip dashes or parking outlines.  Of course, however, that would mean CDOT would have to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.  Sorry guys I figured out the actual problem.  The problem is that the road is in the Chicago city limits

This example brings up an interesting question.  How do you stripe a road if you permit passing (crossing the yellow line when safe to do so) only during part of the day, but prohibit it during other parts of the day (when parking is not allowed, people should change lanes and not pass over the yellow)?  I don't believe you are allowed to have broken yellow dash and broken white dash on the same street, because it is confusing.  With sun glare, the yellow and white lines look similar. 

One possibility may be to have a broken double yellow striped along the median and broken white to differentiate the two parallel lanes.

Most streets like this in other cities are striped with a double yellow and broken white.  Drive 2 lanes during rush and drive 1 lane during non-rush - and no passing over the yellow line is ever permitted.  That is probably the safest configuration.

In downtown Naperville, Illinois, they have provided both the white skip dash and the parking stall corners.  This is on Washington Street, where 4 lanes of traffic are allowed during peak hours and parallel parking is allowed at other times.  I think I'd rather see both forms of striping rather than neither.  https://goo.gl/maps/QzvTSxERbms

[jeffandnicole]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of

Is parking permitted along the edge?

In my town, there are a lot of wide roads that have parking along the edge, and sometimes between blocks, there will be lane markings, and sometimes there won't. It can be pretty random. You'll be driving along the outer lane, when suddenly there's a car in front of you.

That was my thought. In many cities, something like that is intended to have parking on either side. Once upon a time, there were probably streetcar tracks in the middle, hence the wide ROW in many places.

In looking at the signs in Street View, Parking appears to be allowed, except during weekday rush hours and when snow is more than 2". 

Given the residential nature of the street with no other cues, I also would have assumed only one travel lane.

I think the public has kind of repurposed the road in the way they saw fit.  Maybe it's time CDOT put some kind of marking there to make things clear, whether skip dashes or parking outlines.  Of course, however, that would mean CDOT would have to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.  Sorry guys I figured out the actual problem.  The problem is that the road is in the Chicago city limits

This example brings up an interesting question.  How do you stripe a road if you permit passing (crossing the yellow line when safe to do so) only during part of the day, but prohibit it during other parts of the day (when parking is not allowed, people should change lanes and not pass over the yellow)?  I don't believe you are allowed to have broken yellow dash and broken white dash on the same street, because it is confusing.  With sun glare, the yellow and white lines look similar. 

One possibility may be to have a broken double yellow striped along the median and broken white to differentiate the two parallel lanes.

Most streets like this in other cities are striped with a double yellow and broken white.  Drive 2 lanes during rush and drive 1 lane during non-rush - and no passing over the yellow line is ever permitted.  That is probably the safest configuration.

The standard method includes signage, overhead arrows and X's and/or broken double yellows.   Since there's numerous variations, what method(s) are used will depend on the particular conditions that exist.

Here's the MUTCD regarding reversible lanes: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009/part4/part4m.htm

[Roadsguy]

The Drunkard's Crosswalk, in Tuscumbia, AL:
Badly Painted Crosswalk by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Badly Painted Crosswalk by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

That appears to just be "rolled carpet" effect from cars stopping, which drags the slightly flexible asphalt back and forms noticeable bulges in the sides of the lane right before intersections, and "smears" striping like shown there. Here is another example.

[slorydn1]

This was a pretty glaring/terrifying error.  On IL43 on the far northern edge of Chicago, there are no white skip dashes to speak of. 


Each direction of travel is about 20-22 feet wide, so traffic sorts itself into two lanes in each direction.  Surely they didn't intend for one 22' lane of travel.  Here's the location on GSV- you can see cars sorting into two lanes there, too.  File this under the "negligence" folder for striping fails.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0002432,-87.806769,3a,65.5y,2.7h,80.87t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYnHzAIy9nBfZHAU-OiX3ZA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DYnHzAIy9nBfZHAU-OiX3ZA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D99.902046%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Actually in response to Jake's question, yes on street parking was allowed there in the 1980's. I am not sure if that is still the case now. I did my freshman year of college just a few blocks north of this street view link at Niles College of Loyola University. Alas, it is gone now (my dorm was in what is now Pioneer Park at the corner of Harlem and Touhy).