Assessment of the Performance of Road Markings in Urban Areas: The Outcomes of the CIVITAS RENAISSANCE Project

Abstract

In the framework of the EU funded CIVITAS plus RENAISSANCE project, a research activity was focused on the definition of a new methodology for evaluating the global quality of the road markings at urban level, both from a technical and an economic point of view, in order to assure road safety. Two innovative indicators were developed: one for the assessment of the technical performance (CIS-Q) and one for the optimization of the budget (CIS-C). In order to rate the global quality of municipal road markings, the performance indicator CIS-Q takes into account all the parameters characterizing the performance of road markings, such as luminance coefficient in day conditions Qd, retroreflectivity in night conditions RL (dry, wet), skid resistance SRT, colour, kind of material and ageing of the pavement markings, traffic volumes, characteristics of road surface and average local weather conditions. The economic indicator CIS-C considers the budget available for the road manager and compares it with the one needed to ensure an adequate level of quality for road markings.