Traffic management measures are required in the wake of increased pressure on the road system in order to move the road traffic with safety and efficiency. Traffic control devices are important and effective tools to achieve the goals of traffic management. Road markings are one of such important traffic control devices, which have widely been used all over the world. The short service life of conventional road marking paints (in use in India) require frequent repainting which lead to disruption of traffic and escalation in the maintenance cost. Thus a need was felt to develop indigenously durable and cost effective substitute to the conventional road marking paint. Out of 100 test formulations of various binders, aggregates, fillers and glass beads 10 formulations were selected for first field trial on Mathura Road, New Delhi. The road surface characteristics were evaluated before application. The formulations of promising marking materials were laid at application temperature range of 200 deg-220 deg C at a uniform thickness of 3mm, using screed box developed at Central Road research Institute. After initial field trials on mathura Road, New Delhi three successful formulations were subjected to exhaustive field trials at other sites in Delhi, Pune and bombay. Various physical and chemical properties of successful formulations were evaluated to ascertain useful service life of the markings under different traffic and climatic conditions. The service cost of successful thermoplastic formulations varied from 2.74 paise to 3.68 paise per day useful service life against 5.92 paise per day useful service life for conventional road marking paints. The recommended formulation with and without glass beads was respectively found to be 1.7 and 2.2 times cheaper than the conventional road marking paint, with a service life of at least 3 years.
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