Metzeler Roadtec Z8 Interact

[the Ferret]

For the last 25 years prior to my retiring 4 years ago, I was in the Highway Traffic Safety Field which included supplying paint for striping highways to Municipalities. About a dozen years ago or so, in the U.S., the Federal government put out a new spec and regulation for Highway Paint. While being oil based prior, the new spec called for striping highways ( center lines and edge lines, cross walk bars and stop bars) with only water based paint. This is a Federal spec and nowhere in the country should they still be using oil based paint. It is against Federal law to do so. It cannot be purchased in 55 gallon drums which striping machines use, only in 5 gallon pails which can be used in parking lots and on curbs. There is no reason for lines to be slippery with water based paint.

Now tar snakes are still oil based, so when wet they can be slippery. But painted lines...no, they should not be slippery. BTW a painted line on the highway has a life expectancy of one year. I would venture to say, there are no oil based line stripes anywhere in the country and haven't been for a very long time.

Edit: note some municipalites do install a thermoplastc based tape for stop bars and cross walks and lane direction arrows mainly at busy intersections. These are strips of plastic that are bonded to the asphalt. THey are very expensive, which is why they are not widely used, however these could be slippery when wet. Their advantage is life expectancy over paint, as they have a multi year life expectancy. So expensive however that only municipalites with large budgets can afford to use it.