Alabama has placed reflectors around turn arrows on pavement for several years now. Most recently, they have been placed on a newly resurfaced portion of I-565 in Huntsville. Do other state DOT's do this? Do they used raised reflectors or embedded ones?
Within a few years these reflectors will be gone and the paint will not be as reflective as it is now.
Here is a video that shows what I am talking about along with a possible hazard of those reflectors.
http://www.whnt.com/videogallery/65355337/News/Driving-You-Crazy:-I-565-Reflectors#pl-62802322
Seems like a hazard for bikes and motorcycles. (Not watching the video, so maybe this is mentioned.)
In Oklahoma, we have some ramps that have arrows made of reflectors–no paint at all.
Quote from: NE2 on October 25, 2011, 09:50:23 AM
Seems like a hazard for bikes and motorcycles. (Not watching the video, so maybe this is mentioned.)
That's what the video says. Bikes aren't an issue since this is an interstate, but definitely an issue with motorcycles.
I honestly don't see the point of this if raised reflectors are used. I can see this being helpful in the rain when the rest of the striping basically vanishes.
Quote from: Scott5114 on October 25, 2011, 09:54:29 AM
In Oklahoma, we have some ramps that have arrows made of reflectors–no paint at all.
in Oklahoma, you also have some ramps that are made of pure darkness. I-40 eastbound left exit to Elk City comes to mind. At 3am in the rain, I may as well have been going into a black hole.
Quote from: codyg1985 on October 25, 2011, 09:20:33 AM
Alabama has placed reflectors around turn arrows on pavement for several years now. Most recently, they have been placed on a newly resurfaced portion of I-565 in Huntsville. Do other state DOT's do this? Do they used raised reflectors or embedded ones?
Within a few years these reflectors will be gone and the paint will not be as reflective as it is now.
Here is a video that shows what I am talking about along with a possible hazard of those reflectors.
http://www.whnt.com/videogallery/65355337/News/Driving-You-Crazy:-I-565-Reflectors#pl-62802322
Florida has done this as long as I can remember on interstate exit ramps, however the reflectors seem to be popped off after a few months
No, those use paint only in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Illinois tends to use embedded reflectors for lane separation, and all four use reflectors along the side of the freeways mounted on poles.
I finally got a chance to watch the video linked in the original post (it wouldn't play on my phone). How would those things affect plowing operations in places where snow is an issue? I recognize the video is from Huntsville and snow isn't a major issue there. Reflectors used as lane separators are easy enough for plow operators to deal with because their location is predictable, but something like this would seem to pose a greater problem.
in snow-prone locations the same style RPM's are used but they are recessed into a groove in the pavement that makes them set just below the surface of the roadway so as not to be caught by snow. You'll never see them around pavement arrows in these areas. Any RPM that's not recessed is prone to be scraped off by a snow plow like a putty knife regardless of if it's between lanes or around an arrow in the middle of a lane.