Toll Roads and extremely long broken lane lines

[peterj920]

Driving on Illinois Toll Roads, the Indiana Toll Road, and the New Jersey Turnpike, the broken lane lines are extremely long and I have only seen them on toll roads.  They are older than most other roads for the most part, but is there any reason why they have longer lines than anywhere else? 

[jeffandnicole]

The NJ Turnpike says they are for safety - motorists can see them better.  To that, they may have a small, if unproven, point.  It probably uses 50% to 100% more paint, so it does cost a bit more.  But they don't use reflectors either, saving money there.

[peterj920]

The NJ Turnpike says they are for safety - motorists can see them better.  To that, they may have a small, if unproven, point.  It probably uses 50% to 100% more paint, so it does cost a bit more.  But they don't use reflectors either, saving money there.

It's odd that the other toll roads in New Jersey and NJDOT doesn't use the long lines at all. 

[jeffandnicole]

The NJ Turnpike says they are for safety - motorists can see them better.  To that, they may have a small, if unproven, point.  It probably uses 50% to 100% more paint, so it does cost a bit more.  But they don't use reflectors either, saving money there.

It's odd that the other toll roads in New Jersey and NJDOT doesn't use the long lines at all. 

It's more odd that the Garden State Parkway and the NJ Turnpike are managed by the same authority!  They were separate authorities for several decades before they merged, but since then the authority has generally allowed the roads to maintain their historic features, including road striping.  One of the few identical features is they now both support the same variable message signs.

[KEK Inc.]

Personally, I like it.  It makes it distinct from a non-tolled freeway.

[MASTERNC]

PA Turnpike does this as well.  They don't use pavement reflectors (only yellow reflectors on the concrete barrier), so maybe that has something to do with it?

[ET21]

PA Turnpike does this as well.  They don't use pavement reflectors (only yellow reflectors on the concrete barrier), so maybe that has something to do with it?

IL Tollway uses reflectors in-between the longer lane lines on the asphalt sections (mainly I-294 and rural I-88). I think I-88 use to have them as well on the concrete section in the city and suburbs, but road usage tore them up pretty quickly. On the older sections, none exist in some cases.

I prefer them over the standard freeway versions, much easier to see especially during the night or adverse weather conditions.

[peterj920]

PA Turnpike does this as well.  They don't use pavement reflectors (only yellow reflectors on the concrete barrier), so maybe that has something to do with it?

IL Tollway uses reflectors in-between the longer lane lines on the asphalt sections (mainly I-294 and rural I-88). I think I-88 use to have them as well on the concrete section in the city and suburbs, but road usage tore them up pretty quickly. On the older sections, none exist in some cases.

I prefer them over the standard freeway versions, much easier to see especially during the night or adverse weather conditions.

The Tri-State uses reflectors between lane lines on concrete.  The worn reflectors are most likely because of snow plows.  Wisconsin has gotten rid of "lane lights" altogether because of how quickly they wore out.

[epzik8]

Personally, I like it.  It makes it distinct from a non-tolled freeway.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[Kacie Jane]

Just purple lines would be too hard to see.

However, I have seen at toll plazas, they'll use lane markings in purple bordered by white to mark the ETC-only lanes.

[paulthemapguy]

Personally, I like it.  It makes it distinct from a non-tolled freeway.

Hopefully, tollways are alerting people of the presence of tolls in more effective ways than just roadway striping. 

The NJ Turnpike says they are for safety - motorists can see them better.  To that, they may have a small, if unproven, point.  It probably uses 50% to 100% more paint, so it does cost a bit more.  But they don't use reflectors either, saving money there.

I don't mind the longer lines.  What is there to worry about?  Do people think the lines are so long that fast-moving drivers will confuse them with solid whites?  I think it's pretty clear to drivers that the line farthest left and farthest right will be solid, and the others will be skip dashes, even if people had trouble visually distinguishing the line types at high speeds.  So I don't think there ought to be any confusion lol.  Sure they cost more, but if other tollway agencies are anything like Illinois's, they've got $$$$$$ to spend.

[roadfro]

The NJ Turnpike says they are for safety - motorists can see them better.  To that, they may have a small, if unproven, point.  It probably uses 50% to 100% more paint, so it does cost a bit more.  But they don't use reflectors either, saving money there.

I don't mind the longer lines.  What is there to worry about?  Do people think the lines are so long that fast-moving drivers will confuse them with solid whites?  I think it's pretty clear to drivers that the line farthest left and farthest right will be solid, and the others will be skip dashes, even if people had trouble visually distinguishing the line types at high speeds.  So I don't think there ought to be any confusion lol.  Sure they cost more, but if other tollway agencies are anything like Illinois's, they've got $$$$$$ to spend.

MUTCD guidance on broken lines is a 10-foot line with a 30-foot gap, or lines and gaps in similar proportions.

(Guidance for all line and gap dimensions for broken and dotted lines, regardless of application, are at this 1:3 ratio.)

[hbelkins]

Not just on toll roads. There's an unusual center stripe pattern on I-77 descending Fancy Gap in Virginia.

[NoGoodNamesAvailable]

The Bronx River Parkway uses 15-20 dashes in Westchester, and the standard 10-30 in the city. I'm not totally sure why, as far as I know every other parkway uses the standard.

[roadman]

Just purple lines would be too hard to see.

However, I have seen at toll plazas, they'll use lane markings in purple bordered by white to mark the ETC-only lanes.

Purple lines can be used to supplement standard yellow and white edge lines, but they cannot replace them.  From Section 3E.01 of the 2009 MUTCD:

Option:
For a toll plaza approach lane that is restricted to use only by vehicles with registered ETC accounts, the solid
white lane line or edge line on the right-hand side of the ETC Account-Only lane and the solid white lane line or
solid yellow edge line on the left-hand side of the ETC Account-Only lane may be supplemented with purple solid
longitudinal markings placed contiguous to the inside edges of the lines defining the lane.

[JoePCool14]

I also prefer the thick lines that ISTHA uses, but only in northern regions where plows just destroy the reflectors. I find the reflectors to stand out much more during night driving, but the thick lines stand out better during the day and usually don't wear out as much.

[mtantillo]

Longer lines cost more. Easier to provide when you have a dedicated funding source. Also, easier to violate the MUTCD when you don't have Federal funds to lose.

[jeffandnicole]

Longer lines cost more. Easier to provide when you have a dedicated funding source. Also, easier to violate the MUTCD when you don't have Federal funds to lose.

Has there ever been a case where federal funds were lost for minor violations (stripping, bad signage, etc). I can see them taking funds away if you don't do an EIS, or build a 10 lane highway when only 4 lanes were warranted, but I don't see the feds caring all that much because a state did a bad paint job on a roadway.

[Revive 755]

^ There have been at least two cases in Illinois where loss of federal funds was threatened due to non-compliant signs being placed with stop signs.  The most recent example was the Village of Hanover Park being threatened due to putting a sign under a stop sign (with local funds) that read 'this is a stop sign' with an up arrow.  - see http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150915/news/150919258/

[jeffandnicole]

^ There have been at least two cases in Illinois where loss of federal funds was threatened due to non-compliant signs being placed with stop signs.  The most recent example was the Village of Hanover Park being threatened due to putting a sign under a stop sign (with local funds) that read 'this is a stop sign' with an up arrow.  - see http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150915/news/150919258/

I remember that story.  That said, it appeared to be some tough talk from IDOT regarding the penalty of possible loss of fed funds.  It wasn't the Feds actually doing the threatening.

[cl94]

PA Turnpike does this as well.  They don't use pavement reflectors (only yellow reflectors on the concrete barrier), so maybe that has something to do with it?

PA Turnpike has reflectors in many places along the mainline. I know because I have driven it at night.

Not just on toll roads. There's an unusual center stripe pattern on I-77 descending Fancy Gap in Virginia.

Really good to mention. This one is really weird, because the lines are long and closely-spaced with an insane amount of reflectors, this being due to fog.

The Bronx River Parkway uses 15-20 dashes in Westchester, and the standard 10-30 in the city. I'm not totally sure why, as far as I know every other parkway uses the standard.

Several counties in New York use long lines. Suffolk, Saratoga, Westchester, Warren and Erie are the big offenders there (may be others). The Cities of Buffalo and Lackawanna use long lines as well.

[vdeane]

Most people I know use top posting for email and only interleave if they're replying to a bunch of different points.

[jwolfer]

Longer lines cost more. Easier to provide when you have a dedicated funding source. Also, easier to violate the MUTCD when you don't have Federal funds to lose.

Has there ever been a case where federal funds were lost for minor violations (stripping, bad signage, etc). I can see them taking funds away if you don't do an EIS, or build a 10 lane highway when only 4 lanes were warranted, but I don't see the feds caring all that much because a state did a bad paint job on a roadway.

Florida lost funding for the colored US Highway shields.. now we have plain old black and white