Spraying the Paint, a Morning with the Crosswalk Crew (Part 2)

We are back for Part 2 of our Crosswalk post. You’ll remember from our first post that we tagged along with the Pavement Marking Technician crew to watch the installation of a taped crosswalk at Florence Boulevard & Pinkney Street. For the second demonstration, we headed to South 153rd & Monroe Street to watch the installation of a painted crosswalk just a block away from Neihardt Elementary School.

On the morning of 28 June 2024, I joined - from left to right - John Bera (Semi-Skilled Laborer), Jeff Riesselman (City Traffic Engineer), John Pollreis (City Traffic Maintenance Foreman II), and Monte Penry (Semi-Skilled Laborer) to watch as a crosswalk was painted. Thanks to Jeff Riesselman for initiating these informative demonstrations.

Two taped crosswalks had already been installed on two legs of the intersection during a recent asphalt overlay project. You can see one of those in the photo to the right.

Reflective 3M tape was used on the overlay project because it can be easily installed on hot asphalt. Remember in Part 1 where the crew rolled glue onto the pavement before applying the adhesive-backed tape? During an asphalt overlay project, the adhesive-backed tape is laid directly down on the hot asphalt, without the application of glue, for a quick adhering and durable product. An extra layer of glue is unnecessary on these projects because it would likely just evaporate from the heat of the asphalt anyway.

You will notice in the photo above that black asphalt was tracked by skid-loaders and vehicles from the newly-laid asphalt across existing crosswalks on the other two legs of the intersection that weren’t scheduled for resurfacing improvements. It’s common for intersections to have multiple treatments in one location, such as two taped crosswalks and two painted crosswalks. One of the reasons this location was scheduled for this time was to install the painted crosswalks soon after – and in coordination with - the installation of the new asphalt and taped crosswalks. Timely and efficient scheduling is one aspect of the overall logistics that John Herren and John Pollreis execute daily.

One of the tools they use for the logistics of pavement markings throughout the city is a layered, color-coded map that is easily accessed - even in the field - via an electronic tablet. This map keeps track of the stages of each pavement marking project. The map below is an example, specific to crosswalks, of the color-coded phases of different crosswalks. Each color (not all colors/phases are identified in this map) indicates what stage the crosswalk installation is in, i.e., whether it’s been marked out, ground down, installed, etc. After each phased treatment is complete, the PMT can update the color to match the real-time condition of each crosswalk.

You’ll also notice in the screenshot of the map to the left that there are two categories of crosswalks: pedestrian crosswalks and school crossings. One of the reasons for the differentiation is scheduling. School crossings have a more restricted time window for installation, i.e. when school is not in session, than pedestrian crossings do. The school crossings are color-coded separately from other public pedestrian crossings so they can be easily scheduled for the summer months. Since the 153rd & Monroe intersection was within one block of an elementary school, it would be designated as a “school crossing.”

Now it was time for the action! John Bera lined up the sprayer, adjusted the nozzles, and began to paint. He double-coated the Continental crosswalks with Diamond Vogel's “high build” paint (a thicker, more durable paint with more filler). Applying two coats of paint is especially important as it builds up the edges where coverage is most likely to fail. Immediately after the paint was sprayed, Monty came along to sprinkle reflective glass beads onto the wet paint, which allows the crosswalks to reflect light from vehicle’s headlights. Depending on the conditions, the paint can dry anywhere from a few minutes to 15 minutes. As this morning was breezy, the paint dried quicker than on a still and humid day. Like all painted crosswalks in the City, these will be repainted annually.

This was the condition of the crosswalks just before receiving fresh paint.

Here’s a detail photo of the reflective glass beads!

Maintenance & Money 

At the end of each day, the crew cleans out all the paint sprayers to prevent any paint clogs. This process takes about 45 minutes daily, but it also ensures that these expensive pieces of equipment last several years. For instance, the paint sprayer in the video above runs about $14,000 a piece! The self-propelled sprayers cost double that at $28,000.

Speaking of expenses, the more I learn about municipal government, the more shocked I am by how much money it takes to run a city. The total available pavement marking supply budget is a sizable amount of $695,000. Let’s break that down:

• $422,000 (or about 61%) of the supplies/materials budget is dedicated to providing paint-type pavement markings.

  • This includes $315,000 for paint and $107,000 for reflective beads

• $200,000 (or about 29%) is for more durable tape markings, most of which supplements the City’s resurfacing program.

• The remaining $73,000 (or about 10%) is for other pavement marking needs such as equipment, parts, or raised delineators.

Remember, the City of Omaha spans about 144 square miles with approximately 5,000 lane-miles of roadway. . . that’s a lot of pavement that requires marking. And as the city adds more crosswalks and more multimodal infrastructure, such as bike lanes, that means more paint, tape, and time. I believe these are good reasons for a budget to increase though!

How to Make Omaha Safer

Similar to the last demonstration, as we ended our morning together, I asked the PMT crew what they thought would improve safety on the streets of Omaha. Enforcement and education again topped the list, with recommendations for more speed feedback signs, as well as patrols at construction sites, work zones, and areas known for traffic infractions. Specifically, there was a stated need for enforcement in areas with traffic signs that are consistently disobeyed, such as “no right turn on red” or “no left turns” signs.

While we talked a lot about the dangerous and careless behavior of drivers in Omaha, John Berra also reminded me that there are places in Omaha where people drive carefully, and that’s in residential areas like the one where the demonstration took place. Every car that came through the work zone drove slowly and safely, and looked to the PMTs for direction to avoid driving through wet paint. It was at that point that John wisely and gratefully looked around the intersection, gestured to the homes and neighbors, and said “We got the love right now.”

Thank you!

Thanks to the folks in the Public Works Department of the City of Omaha for being consistently welcoming and transparent. Residents may look to elected officials as the city's leaders, but just like corporations, it’s the people who are not household names and who don’t usually get the accolades who keep this city running. And thanks to John Herren for my safety vest - it’s a stellar addition to my safety-first wardrobe!

Thanks for reading, and please comment below!