Reflective Road Markings

The Problem: Drivers have difficulty seeing road markings due to the use of non-reflextive paint causing unnecessarily dangerous road conditions.

The Proposal: The city should start using long lasting reflective paint on all high traffic roads, at the bare minimum. Optimally, non-reflective paint should only be used in parking areas.

The Argument: Where are the road markings? Well, seemingly they can only be found during the day, in good weather, and only if the sun is at the right angle.

The city has been focused on improving certain intersections and stretches of road. That's fine, but it is only an improvement for those who travel in specific areas. And what good is it if you cant see the lane markings in the redesigned intersection or road, anyway? This proposal would effect many roads and intersections throughout the city, if not all of them.

Currently, the streets department uses, at best, an acetone-based traffic paint. This cheap paint is not inherently reflective and requires roads lines to be repainted every 1-2 years. Glass beads should be added to the wet paint to make it reflective. However, glass beads do not appear to be in use or at least not in any quantity to be effective.

Someone along the line probably thought this would be a great way for the city to save money. However, this "savings" comes as a cost to residents by creating unnecessarily dangerous road conditions on already deteriorating roadways. This results in avoidable property damage, traffic accidents, injuries, and probably even death. Of course, this leads to lost wages, repair bills, medical bills, and higher insurance premiums in our area.

So, what we're doing now comes at a cost to residents, but I'm not sure it actually saves the city anything either. What's the cost of repainting the roads every year or two? The crews, equipment, and fuel can't be cheap. How about the cost of emergency responders to attend to accidents with injury? Or for 911 to even field these calls? The Streets Dept and emergency responders surely have much more pressing matters to attend to.

Let's evaluate this and make an improvement that all St. Louisans can actually see.

Photo is of Hampton & Arsenal from Google Maps dated July 2025. Faded lines and disappearing protected crosswalk.