4 ms·

The reflectivity of the road markings in North Carolina—where plows are rarely used—is terrible, to the point that they are almost invisible on a rainy night, e

by js2 2y ago

The reflectivity of the road markings in North Carolina—where plows are rarely used—is terrible, to the point that they are almost invisible on a rainy night, even on freshly painted roads. It's the worst of anywhere I've lived or driven in the U.S. Relatedly, recently my wife mentioned seeing a vehicle with large boxes on each side and wondering what they were. From her description, I tracked down that they are a fleet maintained by a small company that measures road marking reflectivity: https://www.beckenterprises.com/services/ https://www.beckenterprises.com/services/ So who knows, maybe NC is finally doing something about the road markings here.

HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
Interesting, they're not that far from me. I love these little niche industries that no one's heard of. I guess they have to travel a lot to get enough business though.
tdeck 2y ago
What an interesting niche business! I love that the Software section of their homepage appears to be a screenshot of WordPress template source code.
- withinboredom 2y ago
  That’s a stock image when you search for “code” available on almost any stock image provider.
  - tdeck 2y ago
    I figured something like that it's just a little bit funny.
sumtechguy 2y ago
In NC it really depends on where you live. With some of them looking very nice. While others it looks like it has not been touched in 20 years. I personally think they just have a set timeframe to refresh things and they stick rigidly to that no matter how good or bad they are.
- js2 2y ago
  I've driven NC from the mountains to the sea and haven't seen good reflective markings anywhere. Certainly all the road markings in and around Wake county are awful. Even at their best the markings don't compare to say Florida roads. I think part of the problem is that NC counties don't maintain their own roads: "North Carolina has the second largest state maintained highway network in the United States because all roads in North Carolina are maintained by either municipalities or the state." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Highway_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Highway_System I think NCDOT just doesn't use reflective paint. Maybe it's more expensive. I see folks complain about it frequently. https://old.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/18ro7lx/why_does_nc_not_believe_in_reflectors_or/ https://old.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/18ro7lx/why_does... https://old.reddit.com/r/raleigh/comments/12ehtj6/rain_and_roads/ https://old.reddit.com/r/raleigh/comments/12ehtj6/rain_and_r... A video of 3M reflective paint that is designed to work in both wet and dry conditions (skip to 6:40): https://youtu.be/4iY8JqHN-kI?t=400 https://youtu.be/4iY8JqHN-kI?t=400 A related issue you may have noticed is the large amount of trash on our roadsides. This is again because roadside trash pickup is maintained by the state and the budget for roadside cleanup has been de/underfunded since 2008.
nkrisc 2y ago
Ah, very cool, and great timing. I saw one the other day and was wondering what it was measuring (I assumed).

by js2 2y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago

Interesting, they're not that far from me. I love these little niche industries that no one's heard of. I guess they have to travel a lot to get enough business though.

tdeck 2y ago

What an interesting niche business! I love that the Software section of their homepage appears to be a screenshot of WordPress template source code.

withinboredom 2y ago
That’s a stock image when you search for “code” available on almost any stock image provider.
- tdeck 2y ago
  I figured something like that it's just a little bit funny.

sumtechguy 2y ago

In NC it really depends on where you live. With some of them looking very nice. While others it looks like it has not been touched in 20 years. I personally think they just have a set timeframe to refresh things and they stick rigidly to that no matter how good or bad they are.

js2 2y ago
I've driven NC from the mountains to the sea and haven't seen good reflective markings anywhere. Certainly all the road markings in and around Wake county are awful. Even at their best the markings don't compare to say Florida roads. I think part of the problem is that NC counties don't maintain their own roads: "North Carolina has the second largest state maintained highway network in the United States because all roads in North Carolina are maintained by either municipalities or the state." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Highway_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Highway_System I think NCDOT just doesn't use reflective paint. Maybe it's more expensive. I see folks complain about it frequently. https://old.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/18ro7lx/why_does_nc_not_believe_in_reflectors_or/ https://old.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/18ro7lx/why_does... https://old.reddit.com/r/raleigh/comments/12ehtj6/rain_and_roads/ https://old.reddit.com/r/raleigh/comments/12ehtj6/rain_and_r... A video of 3M reflective paint that is designed to work in both wet and dry conditions (skip to 6:40): https://youtu.be/4iY8JqHN-kI?t=400 https://youtu.be/4iY8JqHN-kI?t=400 A related issue you may have noticed is the large amount of trash on our roadsides. This is again because roadside trash pickup is maintained by the state and the budget for roadside cleanup has been de/underfunded since 2008.

nkrisc 2y ago

Ah, very cool, and great timing. I saw one the other day and was wondering what it was measuring (I assumed).