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A simple change in the length of centerline markings on highways is. expected to save the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation up to $90,000 a year, with no reduction in motorist safety.
The modification involves reducing the length of the centerline stripe from 15 feet to 10 feet on rural roads. J. P. Mills Jr., the department’s traffic and safety engineer, said the space between stripes will be 30 feet in the future instead of 25.
The department adopted the pattern when tests showed no major differences between the two spacings in regard to safety, but indicated substantial savings.
The old pattern has been used for years in keeping with Federal Highway Administration recommendations. The change was made after a study of the 1030 pattern on three rural road sections by the Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council. The FHWA recently has endorsed the change for all states.
Experiments aimed at devising pavement markings more economical than the long-used 15-25 pattern were begun in several states after the petroleum shortage of 1973. At the same time that fuel-tax revenues were declining because of the scarcity of gasoline, the cost of paint for pavement marking almost doubled.
Several states cut back on striping, and some ex
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