We wish we could give you before and after pictures, so you could fully appreciate the transformation here. Since we don’t have pictures, though, we’ll describe to you what you’re seeing.

This intersection in northern Nevada used to be a 4-way stop with a variety of difficult-to-address safety issues. The state of Nevada hired Nevada Barricade and Sign Co. (NBSCO), an InfraStripe Company in NV, to take on the task of redesigning the intersection for traffic flow and safety.

The NBSCO team partnered with Granite Construction and knocked it out of the park with this efficient roundabout solution. The design utilizes a combination of contrast epoxy and preformed thermoplastics. The use of contrast epoxy is an innovative and creative solution for improving daytime visibility, addressing sun glare and improving safety by providing clearer lane and directional distinctions.

This is just one of our team’s recent projects that we’re proud to share. We’re passionate about making our nation’s roadways safer, and we’ll do that one intersection and one construction zone at a time.

The post NBSCO Shapes Safer Intersection in NV appeared first on InfraStripe.

While this post is about the history of road signs in the United States, it’s only fair to give a shout out to Europe. They started standardizing their vehicle traffic signage as early as 1909. On this side of the Atlantic Ocean, the first stop sign showed up in Detroit, MI in 1915. (A year earlier, Cleveland, OH had actually installed the first electric traffic signal in the country.) Then, in 1922, a group of delegates from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana spent some time traveling around the country and observing the various signage shape protocols in use in different regions. They came up with these recommendations:

• Round for railroad crossing
• Octagon for stop
• Diamond for curve ahead
• Square for caution or attention
• Rectangle for mileage and speed limit signs

That was the beginning of the U.S. journey to standardization, but it wasn’t until 1935 that the committee’s recommendations were officially adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials and the first version of the MUTCD was created.

Since then, the country has made steady progress towards clarity, safety, and uniformity. Aluminum signs became the standard in 1945. 1954 brought the standardization of colors that we know today: red stop signs, yellow caution signs, green mileage signs, etc. Two decades later, the 1978 edition of the MUTCD introduced orange signage to indicate construction zones. As reflective and retroreflectivity technologies developed, signage regulations were updated for maximum visibility and safety.

All that to say, 100 years has brought some pretty stellar advances, and we’re proud to be part of an industry that keeps Americans moving safely down our nation’s roadways.

The post A History of Traffic Signs in the U.S. appeared first on InfraStripe.

Before you leave

• Get your car serviced! Let your mechanic know that you’re going on a road trip and ask for a thorough maintenance check. Having unexpected car trouble is a really quick way to ruin a getaway.
• Plan your route. With GPS, it’s easy to forget about this one and just trust your map app to do everything for you. A little scouting out of your options, though, and researching the safest roads can provide you with some scenic variety and safer routes.
• Check CDC recommendations for route and destination. The CDC keeps updated lists and recommendations for COVID-10 precautions. Make sure to check the CDC website to familiarize yourself with the local laws and COVID-19 regulations in the areas you’ll be passing through.
• Take water and snacks. This feels like a no-brainer. After all, what fun is a road trip without snacks? But since many of us plan to pick up drinks or snacks along the way at pit stops, it’s easy to neglect having some basics on hand when we leave the house. In the summer, though, it’s particularly important to keep extra water on hand. Don’t leave home without it! And while you’re at it, pack some hand sanitizer too.
• Communicate ahead of time. This is especially important if you’re traveling alone. Make sure friends or family are aware of your travel plans.

While you’re on the road

• Don’t drive distracted. This includes avoiding all risky behaviors: texting, driving impaired by drugs or alcohol, reckless driving, speeding, etc.
• Stop as often as you need to. Take a break and switch drivers if you feel tired. When you stop for food or gas, take a minute to walk around, stretch, answer text messages, return phone calls, and re-energize.
• Keep your gas tank full. Don’t wait till your empty light comes on to stop for gas. Keep your tank closer to full than to empty.
• Remember those CDC recommendations! Keep your mask handy and use it at every stop along the way. Although it’s safer to bring your own food to eat during your trip, if you need to stop for food, look for places that provide outdoor seating options. Use your common sense, your mask, your hand sanitizer, and your physical distancing skills liberally.

After you arrive

• Let friends and family know you made it safely.
• Start enjoying your destination.

Happy end of summer to you! Stay safe and have fun.

The post Summer Safety: Travel Tips appeared first on InfraStripe.

As we’ve mentioned before, state DOTs are the organizations with the political and practical resources to effect transportation and infrastructure reform. Some state DOTs (e.g., California and New Jersey) have begun to reverse spending trends from prioritizing new construction to investing in maintenance and repairs, resulting in better road conditions state-wide. In other states, public engineers like Charles Marohn seek to promote public awareness of the infrastructure maintenance needs, leading the way forward for communities to grow and thrive without sacrificing future sustainability.

It’s still common, however, for states to allocate a high percentage of their transportation budget to building new roads. Why? Streetsblog USA offers the following three reasons for the seeming governmental preference for building new roads and bridges over servicing the existing ones:

1. Building new infrastructure is less complicated than fixing existing infrastructure.
2. New projects tend to be more popular with the public.
3. New construction is easier to finance.

Reason #3 brings us to the matter of financing new projects. The Center on Budget and Policy Priority report on infrastructure calls state and local governments the “stewards” of most of the nation’s infrastructure, citing the fact that state and local governments “own over 90% of non-defense public infrastructure assets.” The report explains that, while federal grants and subsidies often contribute to upkeep public infrastructure, state and local governments cover roughly 75% of maintenance and improvement costs.

So how do the smaller levels of government fund these projects? As reflected in the graph below, they use a variety of methods and sources including borrowing (often in the form of bonds), taxes and fees, federal grants, and public-private partnerships.

Of course, these percentages vary from state to state. States that don’t borrow as much tend to draw more heavily from general state funds, etc., but for the most part, these are the funding sources that collectively comprise infrastructure budgets created by state DOTs throughout the nation.

The post Fixing Our Infrastructure: Where Does the Money Come From? appeared first on InfraStripe.

This is a huge safety win. We’re proud of all the hard work from seat belt and safety-awareness campaigns over the years and proud of Americans for buying into a culture of road safety.

Just how many lives are being saved?

Let’s take a look at some significant numbers:

• When used properly, seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front seat passengers by 45% and the risk of moderate to critical injury by 50%.
• People not wearing a seat belt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle during a crash. More than 3 out of 4 people who are ejected during a fatal crash die from their injuries.
• Seat belt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017.
• Between 2011 to 2015 seat belts saved almost 64,000 lives—that’s enough people to fill up the whole TIAA Bank Stadium where the Jacksonville Jaguars play.

How can we keep growing and doing better?

The National Safety Council and the National Center for Statistics and Analysis offer these sobering stats and areas for improvement:

• The 25-34 year-old age bracket accounts for 60% unrestrained deaths.
• Unrestrained deaths are more common at night, accounting for nearly 56% of nighttime fatalities (as opposed to roughly 40% of daytime fatalities).

Let’s keep up the good work and continue the rising trend going until every person is using their seatbelt every trip!

The post Seat Belts Save Lives appeared first on InfraStripe.

In 2018, the total number of fatal work zone accidents was 672. Of those, 121 involved pedestrians, resulting in 122 deaths. Factors such as poor route/detour planning, inadequate traffic control measures, unclear or insufficient directional signage and road markings, and lack of site equipment maintenance contribute in various ways to work zone incidents, particularly those involving pedestrians.

What can be done to make work zones safer?

In his interview with the Robson Forensics, engineer Kevin Gorman offered the following guiding principles for work zone traffic control and safety:

1. Ensure that the safety of the traveling public within the temporary traffic control area is an integral and high-priority element of every project from planning and design through construction until the last temporary traffic control device (TTC) is removed.
2. Avoid sudden and unexpected traffic movements.
3. Provide alternative routes when feasible.
4. Provide clear, frequent, and positive guidance to drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists as they approach and travel through the work zone.
5. Inspect traffic control elements routinely and make modifications when necessary.
6. Ensure that all persons who design, select, place, and maintain temporary traffic control devices are properly qualified.
7. Collaborate with law enforcement to implement and enforce traffic regulations, reduced speed zones, parking controls, and incident management.
8. Keep the public well informed of what changes to expect within the work zone prior to the initial TTC setup and prior to changes in the TTC pattern as construction progresses.
9. Use additional traffic control as required on side road approaches or ramps.

Proactive planning and consistent clear communication and expectation-setting can save lives.

The post Pedestrian Safety in Urban Work Zones appeared first on InfraStripe.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released highway work zone safety data that accounts for both traffic deaths and worker fatalities. At InfraStripe, we want to communicate this information compassionately, because we remember that every single life represented in these numbers is connected to family and loved ones who have endured a tragic loss. We share these numbers respectfully and with the goal of advocating for greater awareness and continual improvement in safety protocols and equipment.

Motor vehicle incident fatalities: an average of 772 a year from 2015-2017

Construction worker deaths: an average of 123 a year from 2003-2017

67% of work-related deaths in work zones occurred among the following occupations:

• Construction laborers (473)
• Heavy and tractor trailer drivers (250)
• Construction equipment operators (200)
• First-line supervisors of construction and extraction workers (163)
• Highway maintenance workers (142)

Further analysis of incidents resulting in construction worker deaths from 2011-2017 includes the following:

• Transportation events accounted for 76 percent of roadway work zone fatal occupational injuries.
• Backing vehicles accounted for 89 of the 345 worker deaths in a work zone for which the direction of travel was recorded.
• Pickup trucks and SUVs accounted for 151 worker deaths at road construction sites from 2011-2017, followed by machinery (131), automobiles (129), semi-trucks (124), and dump trucks (82).

What kinds of measures can be taken to protect workers?

In light of the high number of deaths related to construction equipment and vehicles within work zones, the CDC is working to advance training and awareness of work zone equipment visibility and providing other trainings and resources to construction companies. Proactive construction crew supervisors can help enforce the use of PPE and conduct safety checks at the beginning of each shift. Creating a culture of safety and accountability among crews throughout the nation is essential for worker safety. We invite all construction-associated industries to join the effort to protect lives! Know more, do better.

The post Fast Facts about Highway Work Zones appeared first on InfraStripe.

Here’s why.

In a recent USA TODAY article on state infrastructure rankings, Nevada and Florida were #1 and #2 for best overall. The survey factored four categories into their overall rankings:

1. Roads in poor condition
2. Structurally deficient bridges
3. State highway spending per driver
4. Average travel time to work

Another state transportation study in U.S. News tracking slightly different data points named Nevada #1 and Florida #7 for best transportation infrastructure. All that to say, InfraStripe is proud to give a shout out to our team members serving in these two states that are leading our nation in prioritizing long-term safety and accessibility. We’d like to think that our NBSCO and AKCA crews have had a part in earning those distinguishments for their respective states. Quality road and infrastructure maintenance is a huge part of traffic and transportation safety, and our companies take every job seriously, delivering results that speak for themselves.

As we enter 2020, we thank Nevada and Florida for leading the way, and we encourage local, state, and national agencies to prioritize infrastructure maintenance and for the safety of our citizens and the sustainability of growth and economy.

The post Which States have the Best Infrastructure? appeared first on InfraStripe.

The most important and groundbreaking vehicle safety developments between 1950-2000 were seat belts, cruise control, and antilock braking systems. The National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that from 1960-2016, seat belts saved 329,715 lives: more than all other safety features combined. (By the way, this is why the NHTSA and other national, state, and local agencies continue to campaign for seat belt usage!)

From 2000-2020, key safety advancements included blind spot detection, rearview video systems, and driver assistance features such as lane departure warnings and automatic emergency braking.

What’s next? Of course, we’ve all heard about automatic cars, but it’ll be a good many years before fully automated cars are on our roads. Between now and then, however, you can expect to see more and more automated features equipping new vehicles. Vehicle manufacturers are developing and testing essential technology for features like highway autopilot, traffic jam assistance, self-parking, and much more.

So here’s to 2020 and beyond. Wear your seatbelt, welcome breaking developments, and explore the future. Safely.

The post 2020 and Beyond: Peeking into the Future appeared first on InfraStripe.

In case you don’t have time to watch the video right now, though, here’s the basic scoop:

A road is anything that connects two points. “Road” is the broadest, most general term and is most often used in suburban or rural areas.

Streets and avenues are typically found in cities. They are public ways with buildings on both sides. Though cardinal direction differs by city, streets and avenues typically run perpendicular to each other: one set runs north to south, and the other set runs east to west. A boulevard is a wider version of a streets or avenue, and it usually has a median.

The other types of road names, such as “way,” “place,” “drive,” “terrace,” or “court,” all have conventional meanings too. You can visit Urbo.com for a full list and more details, as well as a discussion of the most common street names in the United States, but this is our summary:

Way — A side street off a road.

Drive — A winding road shaped by natural features such as a lake or mountain.

Terrace — A road that runs along the top of a slope.

Place — A road with no throughway (a.k.a., a dead end road).

Court — A road with no throughway that ends in a loop or cul-de-sac.

Although there are no laws or rules that govern road naming, city planners typically follow these general conventions, even internationally. So now you’re in the know! Next time you’re out and about, you can feel good about knowing why the roadway you’re driving on is named what it is.

The post What’s the Difference Between a Street and a Road? appeared first on InfraStripe.