Dear Answer Man: I’ve lived in a few different areas of the country, and for whatever reason, the streets/roads in Rochester are the worst for driving at night, especially when there’s precipitation. The roads off the 65th Street exit (from U.S. Highway 52) are by far the worst. Last night (Feb. 14) there was a light rain, and I couldn’t see any road markings. When it is wet, the markings simply disappear. I had to travel that road last night and was scared because I was unable to easily see the road markings.
I’m not the only person who has noticed this. I understand headlights onto wet surfaces can distort the markings. I mentioned 65th Street Northwest, but driving downtown at night when it’s wet is just as bad. I feel like the quality of the paint used on the roads is not the best because the markings simply disappear. Why is this? — Apprehensive Driver.
Dear Apprehensive,
I think living in Minnesota occassionally means taking guesses on where the lanes might be. Usually, this happens in the winter when snow or ice on the roads covers the lane markers. Your frustration — driving, you know not where — is something I'm sure most drivers around here can commiserate with.
I did reach out to the city to ask about the paint and faint lane markers.
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Megan Moeller, spokeswoman for the city of Rochester, said it's a problem the city is aware of and addresses on a regular basis. First, she said, the city uses only MnDOT-approved paint and follows the Federal Highway Administration guidelines for the requirements for paved road markings. These requirements also outline maintenance for roads based on the number of vehicles per day, the speed limit on the road and more.
"The life expectancy for paint can be anywhere from one year to five years based on the type of paint used," Moeller said. "While the timing of each street being restriped is dependent upon when it was last painted, a number are expected to be painted again in 2024."
Moeller added that the paint is designed to be retroreflective, meaning there are little glass beads that are applied in the painting process. Those beads reflect light back in the direction they came, meaning back to your car with its headlights. However, the glass beads can be worn off as cars drive over the paint or the paint that marks the lanes is scraped by snowplows.
Most of the downtown streets have latex paint and are painted annually, and glass beads are used with latex paint, Moeller said. These markings will be repainted again in 2024. Some areas downtown have epoxy paint and those are slated for repainting in 2025. The epoxy is expensive and requires the city to hire a contractor to install it — "We don’t have an epoxy truck, and it is not the easiest product to work with," she said. The city opts to use that on the very high-volume streets.
All that — plus the fact that paint can't generally be applied this time of year due to cold temperatures — means February, March and April are probably the worst months of the year for the paint that marks the lanes on the road.
So, Apprehensive, just do your best out there. Drive slowly if you're unsure. And with luck, we'll get a fresh coat of retroreflective paint on those streets soon.
You'll see things clearly once your questions have been answered. Send questions to Answer Man at answerman@postbulletin.com .
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February 21, 2024 at 10:19PM
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Poor lane markings make driving difficult in Rochester - Rochester Post Bulletin
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