REFLECTORS ON ROUTE K PROVE THEIR WORTH

The 106 reflective center-line markers installed nearly five years ago on Route K between Silver Springs Road and Broadview have been a useful test case for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department.

When the markers were installed in December 1986, the highway department agreed to use them for a study to determine if they were feasible in other areas of the state.

As part of the study, similar reflective markers were installed in St. Louis County on the Interstate 170 inner beltway, between I-270 and I-40.

Freeman McCullah, the department's district 10 engineer, said the study proved the reflective markers are an effective and economical way to mark the center line on high-traffic rural highways.

An example, he said, would be Highway 177 between Cape Girardeau and Fruitland. The highway handles a growing volume of traffic each day because of continued industrial and residential growth along the route.

"Because of the high cost of the markers, ($45-$50 each) it is only economically feasible to install them on those highways we believe will remain in a rural area setting but which carry a large amount of traffic to a distant point or highways with a unique visibility problem," McCullah said.

The Route K markers were removed this summer when the highway was re-striped to include a center turn lane.

The markers have been of little value since street lights which greatly reduced the markers' reflectivity were installed along the highway in 1989.

When they finally were removed, it was with great difficulty, despite highway department predictions to the contrary.

"We literally had to chisel each one of the markers out of the pavement, despite some earlier predictions in Jefferson City that they wouldn't last one or two snow seasons," said a local highway department official who asked not to be named.

"As you can see, all the effort it took to remove the center line markers proved otherwise."

The markers were installed in December 1986 at a cost of $6,000 after motorists complained were unable to see the center line striping at night particularly during wet weather.

The Southeast Missourian paid for the markers when the highway department said it wouldn't fund the project because they believed the markers wouldn't withstand the effects of snow plows.

But McCullah said the Route K project proved the markers' durability.

"The markers allowed us to study their durability in a relatively high traffic area, and to determine impact street lighting would have on their reflectivity. It was definitely not a waste of money," he said.

The installation of street lights along Route K made the markers obsolete, McCullah said.

The $66,000 Route K street lighting project was paid for by the city of Cape Girardeau and $30,000 in private contributions guaranteed by the Southeast Missourian. The project, completed in April 1989, involved the erection of 26 new street lights and replacement of 14 existing mercury-vapor lights with brighter, sodium lights.

McCullah said other methods of improving visibility on rural roads and highways have been developed since the Route K markers were installed.

"For the other rural roads and highways in the state, we now have a highly visible, highly reflective, tape... that can be put down on the center line," he said.

McCullah said the reflective tape serves the same purpose as the markers, but is less expensive to install. He said new types of paint also have been developed that provide a brighter and more reflective striping surface.

"We also have developed improved pavement surfaces that act as a smoother base for the reflective paint," he added.