Driving around in much of the United States, you see something you don’t see here in New Hampshire. Look at the paint strips put on roads here and note that if it is raining or nighttime the markings are invisible. The state Department of Transportation does all the primary road markings. In many other states the lane markings are highly reflective.
Now, recently I see many municipalities complaining that they can’t get rid of recyclables, like glass. Some municipalities actually just grind the glass to dust and mix it in with road aggregate to spread on road maintenance. How about a mutually advantageous fix?
The reason lane markings are reflective in other states is because they mix ground glass into the paint, which makes it highly reflective. I have spent far too many rainy nights trying to find the lanes on both the interstate roads and the area primary roads in New Hampshire because the wet lines are invisible. I’ve also driven in other states where I can easily see the reflective lanes.
So how about the municipalities get the glass ground up and used by the state to make all lane markings more reflective? Sounds like a win-win proposition to me.
DONALD ARMSTRONG
Henniker