Citation

Nepal KP, Lahtinen L. Transp. Eng. Aust. 2011; 13(1): 49-60.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Engineers Australia)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Retroreflective pavement markings enhance road safety by increasing visibility of roadway delineation for road users. In most countries, authorities responsible for road safety do not have performance intervention criteria and standards, and rely on fixed-time interval maintenance programs. This practice is undergoing change via the introduction of mobile retroreflectivity recording units. The focus of this study is to investigate the use of standard mobile retroreflectivity recording units and to analyse the observed retroreflectivity data to evaluate the state of pavement markings under investigation. The centreline pavement marking retroreflectivity data collected by Queensland Department of Main Roads using the ECODYN mobile retroreflectivity recording unit are analysed to determine how the factors such as pavement surface type and traffic environment relate to retroreflectivity performance. It has been found that the mobile retroreflectivity recording unit with in-built processing capabilities can be implemented for identifying the requirements of maintenance programs, as well as to relate the observed retroreflectivity with other factors such as pavement surface type and traffic environment. The observed data indicated that there is a disparity between urban and rural roads of southeast Queensland in terms of centreline pavement marking retroreflectivity qualities. About one-third of the roads used in the analysis fell below the generally accepted minimum threshold at the time of observation.