Accelerated wear testing of pavement markings in the United States is commonly performed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) National Transportation Product Evaluation Program (NTPEP). The pavement markings evaluated in this program are applied in a transverse manner along existing roadways and a variety of objective measures are collected over a two-year period. This paper reports the findings from an exploratory study on using the model mobile load simulator, 3rd scale (MMLS3) to evaluate pavement marking performance along transverse test sections in Pennsylvania. Accelerated trafficking on wet as well as dry pavement surfaces was applied on sections of markings consisting of various waterborne paint products, marking thicknesses, and bead types and densities. Pavement marking retroreflectivity measurements were recorded atvarious stages of MMLS3 trafficking and compared to measurements of a test deck consisting of the same pavement marking types subjected to live traffic. The findings suggest that the MMLS3 is capable of consistently replicating the degradation pattern of the various pavement markings with regard to loss of retroreflectivity as a function of traffic passages. Performance varied among the various types of markings, with higher retroreflectivity observed for thicker markings with higher bead densities. Trafficking on wet pavement surfaces accelerated the degradation of the markings with respect to retroreflectivity. The findings confirm that the MMLS3 is a mobile, reliable, and economical tool that enables rating of pavement marking performance with significantly shorter testing duration when compared to on-road trafficking.
Abstract