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City to investigate fading road markings

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An investigation is to be launched by the City of Cape Town into fading road and line markings, it said on Sunday.

“During the past 18 months or so, we have noticed that some road and line markings across the city fade faster in some areas than in others,” city mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron said in a statement.

“As such, we have appointed the SABS (SA Bureau of Standards) to investigate the quality of paint that is being used by Transport for Cape Town’s (TCT) road depots and by our line marking contractors to determine whether this is caused by substandard quality paint, different application techniques, or other reasons such as the environment or traffic volume.”

Under ideal conditions, it is expected that the road and line markings will last at least two years, but the paint may fade sooner in areas with high traffic volumes.

The SABS will conduct the investigation in two phases.

Quality of paint

The first focuses on the quality of paint used across the city, and the second will be a trial and monitoring exercise to see the effect of environmental factors on the longevity of the markings.

Herron said the resistance to traffic wear test, which is a requirement of the SABS specification, will take place over the next few months. Wear will be examined every 90 days after the lines and markings have been painted.

The SABS will also investigate the other aspects of the SABS specification such as storage environment, viscosity, how the paint is applied, colour, resistance to sagging, drying time, resistance to abrasion and the paint’s skid resistance and retro reflectivity.

“The products from the supplier who provides TCT with paint for road marking are SABS-approved,” Herron said.

“Furthermore, the three companies who are contracted by the City for line marking are also obliged in terms of their contract to use SABS-compliant paint.”

The SABS will also conduct site sampling in four areas across the metro to find out if the paint was diluted or tampered with. They would also take samples at sites where TCT’s road depots are responsible for line marking.

The city has spent around R42m on road and line markings over the past financial year, 2014/15.

Herron said the investigation will ensure the city received value for money. News24


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