Need input on '50s highway yellow center lines...........

[quote user=“richhotrain”]

Steven Otte

Traffic signage, road markings, and the like are governed by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD. There have been changes to these regulations over the years, and making sure the markings and signs you use on your roads are appropriate for your modeled era is important for historical accuracy. There’s a site I use that archives a number of editions of the MUTCD from years past. https://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/ghawkins/mutcd-history.htm Scroll down to the end and select a link from the “Links to Previous Editions of the MUTCD” to read the one appropriate for your era.

I took it upon myself to contact IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) on mobilman44’s behalf to inquire about lane markings in the 1950s. Steven was dead on with the link that he provided. I received a detailed response from an engineer at IDOT that included that link, and I forwarded that response to the OP.

In part, the engineer provided the following commentary:

Centerline markings were placed on all hard-surfaced roads with sufficient width. A single solid line at a 5 inch width was used for 2-lane highways. Typically, black was used on concrete and white was used on brick or asphalt, but black would have been used if the surface was faded to a whiter color to provide contrast. If the pavement width accommodated 4 or more lanes, then double solid yellow lines were used in the middle of the pavement. These lin

I saw a lot of different road markings growing up. The most often seen was a white striped center line. A yellow line was added on one or both sides to indicate no passing. This what was around when I started driving, and what I see most often from my dad’s slides in the 50s and 60s.

Spacing is (and was, for the most part) most often a stripe of 10 feet minimum, up to about 15 feet, and a space 4 times the stripe length. How this panned out in reality often had to do with how good the gun crew was when repainting happened. I saw some pretty long stripes. Width had the same issues when repainting, but most of what I saw was 4-5 inches.

I did do a bit of driving in Missouri when I was younger and they had what looked like a black center line and painted white stripes on top of it.

Its still common to find side roads with no markings but this is a liability issue

I have used paint pens and sharpies to stripe roads in the past. It always looks like new striping. A recent article by scenery wiz Pelle Soeborg showed how he dry brushes on the paint stripe to make it look old and faded. If you can find the article it might also say how far apart they are spaced. It was in 2016.

FWIW.

Where used, the centre lines North of the Border went to Yellow c. 1973, which is much better when the roads are covered with broken patches of snow or ice, as Yellow is more visible than White in this case.

As stated the side White line is a lifesaver on dark nights with rain or fog, also added c. 1973. here, esp when the opposite car does not dim his headlights.

Back in the day, we used to go by road to Plattsburg, NY. and the roads in NY had yellow lines, and in some places, Yellow cat’s eye reflectors in the centre.

Seen the cat’s eyes elsewhere, both White and Yellow.

Thank You.

Vaguely related. Something I never saw before driving in West Virginia was the escape lanes for trucks. On long steep downhill highways, there were occasionally what looked like exit ramps to nowhere. If a truck lost its brakes, it could steer up one of these to come to a stop. there were sand barrels at the end just in case. Do we know when that started?

Nearly 47 years ago, engineers developed the “runaway truck ramp”, also known as a trust arrester bed, that allow drivers to stop their vehicles even if their brakes fail.

Rich

I’ve seen a number of the truck escape ramps in Colorado. As I recall, the end of these “roads” were just deep beds of crushed stone. I don’t recall seeing end barriers, but of course there certainly could have been.

Thanks goes out to RichHOtrain for following up my query with the Illinois authorities. He forwarded me the info, and I sure am thankful for it.

Before seeing this (and the replies on this thread), I would have bet the ranch that the lines separating two lanes (on a two lane highway) were dashed yellow. Well, they were NOT. They were black or white!!

Just shows to go - that sometimes our (my) memories of common stuff are just not all that accurate… Dang I hate to think that.

They are all over the mountinous regions of the US. The poor unfortunate soul who had to use one it was a life savor no doubt…but the bad part, was it cost a minimum of 500.00 dollars to get winched out in the 80’s. They were not stone gravel…they were pea gravel, that would not support weight and you would sink in, about two feet thick.

Take Care! [:D]

Frank

'Fess up, Frank, how much did that set you back over the years? [swg]

Rich

Rich,

LOL Fortunately, I never had to use one. There are only two states in the US that I never drove a truck in, Maine and RI. What I used to get a big kick out of and many others drivers on the CB, was to come up on a truck runaway ramp and see a sign that said ‘‘closed’’…yeah right! In some parts of CA. Their port of entry (which is the scale house) would be half way down the grade and if You pulled in there with your brakes smoking, they would put you out of service and go over your truck with a fine tooth comb…sneaky…lack of a better word …guys! Lucky if you could get out of there without paying some kind of fine.

‘‘Happy New Year’’ Richie.

Take Care! [:D]

Frank

Somehow I knew. [Y]

“Happy New Year” Frankie.

Richie

I’m sure they were in place before 1970 in certain areas of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. To bring this back to railroading, there were such escape tracks on the B&O, Southern, and others a hundred years ago. They were sometimes actually used, and they worked. The train wrecked, but it wrecked at a remote location high in the mountains, before it could gain enough momentum to do even worse damage.

Tom

Before 1972 every state had different striping/highway sign standards…the unified Federal striping/signage (the beginning of the symbols on hwy signs) requirements took effect that year.

There was some leeway…Calif. information/destination signs (the green rectangle w/white lettering) were for many years black w/white lettering. The feds forced them to change them to green, but California uses a dark green as compared to other states.

In the 60s there was a trucker song called “White Line Fever,” apparently referring to a sort of highway hypnosis.

If I’m not mistaken…I believe there were movies out by the same name!

Here’s one of them:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073896/

‘‘Keep the shiny side up’’.

Take Care! [:D]

Frank

My 1969 White Freightliner double wide COE…that I restored. Used to be a Mayflower Van lines truck, only 50 made.