WSDOT/Eastern Region January 2015 Update

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Washington State Department of Transportation <wsdot@service.govdelivery.com>
Date: Jan 27, 2015 7:22 PM
Subject: WSDOT/Eastern Region January 2015 Update
To: guyperea@live.com
Cc:

> Welcome to our January 2015 newsletter.  This month we talk about our highway construction projects scheduled for work this year and have some information about highway line painting.
>
> Please drive carefully and always be prepared for winter driving.  Also, on these foggy days, it's a good idea to drive with your headlines on.  It helps you and the other drivers, see each other.
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> As always, if you have any questions on items in this newsletter, or other transportation issues, please let me know.  Give me a call at (509) 324-6010 or drop me an e-mail at: metcalk@wsdot.wa.gov .
>
> Keith Metcalf
> Regional Administrator
> WSDOT Eastern Region
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> 2015 Highway Construction
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> There will be 11 projects underway within the WSDOT Eastern Region during 2015.  Total value of the work will be about $46.5 million.
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> One major project carries over from 2014—The North Spokane Corridor/BNSF Rail Realignment continues to move along with an expected completion in late 2015.  The work includes two freeway bridges, two pedestrian bridges, seven miles of rail line, and about a mile of trail.
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> There will be several projects on US 195, all targeted to improving the driving surface of the roadway.  A long-awaited project is rehabilitation of the pavement on southbound US 195 from Interstate 90 to Excelsior Road.  This section of concrete highway has been in place since the 1960's and is showing its age.  The job includes replacing broken concrete panels, placing dowel bars between the panels to keep them from tilting, then smoothing the surface with diamond grinders.  There are three asphalt paving projects on US 195:  From the SR 27 junction at Pullman to Babbitt Road, Colfax to Dry Creek Road, and from Plaza Road to Cornwall Road near Spangle.
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> A major component of the WSDOT pavement preservation program is "chip-sealing" rural highway sections.  This asphalt oil/gravel layer is added to the lower volume highways primarily to protect the subsurface from water infiltration to the subsurface.  In some areas there are some minor repairs made to the pavement before the chip seal layer is added.  This year approximately 115 miles of rural highways will be part of the chip-seal contract.
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> Some minor projects will also be handled during the 2015 season.  There will be some signing upgrades, guardrail upgrades, and curve warning sign improvements at a number of locations in the seven-county Region.
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> Here is the link to our map and list of the 2015 Eastern Region construction projects. 
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> Painting (by the numbers)
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> WSDOT uses a lot of paint for the lane marking along state highways.  We have center lines, skip stripes, turn lane lines, fog lines, and no passing lines.  Our paint lines are yellow or white and usually four inches wide (sometimes up to eight inches).
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> In 2014, on state highways in the seven-county WSDOT Eastern Region we used 36,910 gallons of yellow paint and 49,000 gallons of white paint.  That's enough paint for a four-inch line 9,600 miles long—long enough to paint a four-inch line from Spokane to a little past Perth, Australia or to cover the playing field at the Seahawks football stadium with 24 coats of yellow and white paint.
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> Our paint crew paints nearly all of the lines on our 1,567 miles of state highway at least once a year.  There are several heavier traveled sections that they try to paint twice.
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> The paint used is a reflective, water-based paint.  But, it needs a little help to make it easier to see at night.  To do that, we mix tiny glass beads into the paint to raise it up from the surface a little bit.  That way, when your car's headlights shine on the paint, it reflects back to your eyes.  In 2014 we used 621,000 lbs. of glass beads on Eastern Region highways.  That's enough to cover the Seahawk's field with a layer of beads a little over two inches deep.  The reason why the lines are hard to see on a very wet, rainy night is because the water covering the paint and beads diffuses the light and it does not reflect back.  In the Puget Sound area, WSDOT uses round, reflective markers (sometimes known as "road turtles") glued to the roadway along the skip stripe.  That helps visibility on rainy nights.  We can't use those in eastern Washington because the first snowplow that is clearing the highway also scoops up the reflective "turtles."
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> Typically, when the crew is painting, the striper van is in front marking center line and warning oncoming traffic of highway painting ahead.  Then the "striper" truck follows, trailed by the supply truck with another load of paint and beads, plus an electronic message board  with "paint striper ahead – stay off wet paint lines", then a final trailing vehicle with a "Wet Paint" electronic message board.  The two following vehicles try to stay back far enough to warn drivers and try to prevent other vehicles from crossing over the new marking before the quick-drying paint has time to cure.  Our crews will be painting the highway lines again later this year.  They need dry weather and temperatures at least 50 degrees and higher.  Watch for them this spring and throughout the summer.
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