Tape Might Be Answer To Striping Paint Shortage

When I read that the type of paint used to stripe our nation's roadways was in short supply, I was concerned.

We have enough inattentive drivers these days without having to worry about faded striping contributing to motorist mortality statistics.

But then I thought of an episode of Mythbusters that I saw on the Discovery Channel last week. It was entirely about one of the miracles of the 20th Century and possibly an answer to this paint shortage the highway departments of our country are dealing with:

Duct tape.

I've been a fan and connoisseur of duct tape for years. I know that all duct tape is not created equal. For instance, some of the rolls they sell at discount stores on the cheap are, well, cheap. Personally, I like to use a name-brand duct tape such as Duck Tape duct tape.

I also know that of the thousands of uses for duct tape the one thing it should NEVER, EVER be used for is actually sealing the joints of air ducts. No kidding. It doesn't hold up. You should use aluminum tape.

But I do believe that duct tape would make a great alternative to roadway striping paint. I base this on first-hand experience.

In 1988, I helped the SEMO Residence Hall Association host the annual convention of the Midwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls. It was a big to-do. A lot of students from colleges and universities across the Midwest came to Southeast for a weekend to attend a variety of seminars regarding all aspects of residence life.

Sessions were held in the University Center and in the Grauel Language Arts Building two blocks away. Since we didn't want students who had never been to our campus getting lost, I had the idea to use colored duct tape -- a fairly new innovation at the time -- to create arrows on the sidewalk going from the U.C. to Grauel. Apparently, the idea worked since we didn't lose a single attendee.

But after the conference was over, we didn't remove the sidewalk signage promptly and, well... apparently it fused to the concrete. When I graduated over a year later those same arrows were still visible, likely baffling passer-bys as to their purpose.

I figure this proves that duct tape can take the elements and be an acceptable replacement for the striping paint used by highway departments. Of course, I base this opinion purely on my own observations. Unfortunately, the episode of Mythbusters that I saw last week, did not investigate this particular use of duct tape.

However, the show was able to confirm that you can hold a parked car in place if you duct tape it to a light pole. They were also able to successfully build a usable footbridge entirely out of duct tape (excluding the end-point anchors) that spanned a nearly 200-foot wide chasm.

The only myth that got busted by the show was when they tried to stop a car going 60 miles an hour using a barrier built completely out of the tape. The barrier snapped even though they used 100 rolls of duct tape and it was 3 inches thick.

The fact it failed this test did not surprise me. While the tape is miraculous, it has limits.

I think that anyone who believes you can actually stop a speeding car with the tape -- even 100 rolls of the stuff -- has probably been smoking something extra special.

Possibly even duct tape.