Does anyone have a good reference (online or otherwise) on the history of how roads and highways were striped? I know that the striping regulations and conventions have changed over the years, and I imagine that they are different from state to state.
Specifically, I’m modeling town streets, state highways, and US highways in Texas in the mid 50’s.
I’m just looking for a starting point if anyone has any ideas. Thanks much in advance.
Try the Federal Highway Administraton. They have discussion forums set up to talk about various subjects. Didn’t see anything on striping, however you can probably get info there since they had discussions on “concrete” on highways and such. Here’s a link to the discussion area: http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/
Good Luck!
Thanks much Hazmat…I’ll post any helpful info I find…
Good for you. Accurate road markings make a big difference in the realism we are able to create on our layouts. Road markings and sign standards are set by the Manual on Unform Traffic Control Devices. You can view the pdf version of the 2003 edition here: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2003/pdf-index.htm
Road markings are in part 3.
Enjoy! Since I model about 1960, I had to get an old edition of the book. Earlier editions of the book and the history of road signs and markings are quite interesting, and set the tone for your layout, as most drivers recognize the road as a familiar environment.
Regards
Peter
conford
According to the NEB&W website’s scenery section, roads were mostly unstriped well into the 1950s, especially the secondary and city streets. When roads were striped, they had a single solid or dashed white line down the center of the street. The centerline slowly changed to yellow during the early 1960s, and the white edge stripes started showing up around 1966. My dad says that he first remembers the white edge lines around Chicago around 1968 or so.
Texas Highways magazine spotlighted what was the Texas Highway Department in the 1950s. (Has now become Texas Dept. of Transportation.) The public library in my city, Corpus Christi, has issues back into the late 1950s. Magazine often bragged on various projects in the state, both large and small. Photos would be a good source.
I have another source for highway information-- copies of pages from a textbook for highway design engineers from late 1930s…slopes, setbacks, grades, etc. I found this book in a small town library. Sometimes in small country town libraries, they have old books that larger city libraries might discard as “obsolete”. But not for period researchers.
Not much of an expert here, but one thing I do know:
Federal regulations at one time required the stripes to be white. This miffed a lot of westerners, who complained that white stripes could not be seen in e.g. Wyoming blizzards. Eventually, some of these areas switched to yellow, but it was a bureaucratic haggle.
I do have a book on this subject, but it currently is packed. If I come across it, I’ll let you know author and title.
I know that in Ontario, white lines are “law” while yellow lines are “strong suggestions”, but in Quebec both colours are “law”
I seem to remember, during my days at UNB, sometime in the early to mid-70’s the center stripes of highways in Quebec and/or New Brunswick changed from white to yellow. But I’m afraid I don’t remember exactly which year (hey, it was the 70’s man, and like they say, if you remember them, you weren’t there 
The Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is more or less the bible of roadway signing and marking practices. See the following website: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/index.htm There’s a tutorial on the current pavement marking standards as well as history and the current edition of the manual.
Be aware that not every state, county, or city followed the manual in every case. You may be able to find a local resource in your area that is aware of differing local practices. For example, I grew up in Ohio and edge line markings were introduced there circa 1960, initially on an experimental basis, and then were uniformly adopted for State, US, and Interstate routes after a reduced accident rate was confirmed. I live in western Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh for many years had an additional phase on their traffic signals - they went from green to green-yellow (both green and yellow lit) when the light was going to change and there was no longer adequate time for pedestrians to cross, then yellow and finally red. This practice was eliminated when the state of Pennsylvania made the MUTCD manditory throughout the state.
I know that in Pennsylvania the state roads and U.S. highways before the interstates came about, solid white meant no passing, dashed was a passing zone. A solid white line and a dashed white line meant that there was no passing on the lane that lane but the lane with the dashed line could. I can remember going into Ohio and their lines were yellow. The signs showing passing or no passing were not used in Pa. until probably the '80’s. With the advent of the National Highway Law the lines were changed to yellow and a white strip on the edges. There were no white edge strips prior to that. I would suggest that you get in touch with the Texas Highway Dept. or try a local library and again looking at some highway pictures of the era you are building you layout in.
Tom[:)]
I am relying on truly ancient memories (for me), so I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that the striping in 1950s Texas was all white. The center line was (possibly) a 20 foot stripe with a 25 or 30 foot gap. A solid stripe in your lane designated no passing for you, same as Pennsylvania.
In laying out your no passing zones, remember that most of the cars still in use then were rather feeble beasts that required some distance to complete a pass.
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia changed from white stripes in the centre to yellow stripes when I was learning to drive in 1981-1982, IIRC. Interestingly, on the Trans-Canada Highway in Nova Scotia this involved two colour changes, as the stripes in the centre went from white to yellow, and the stripes between lanes and on the side went from yellow to white. Was NS the only jurisdiction in North America with yellow stripes on the sides of principal highways?
I also remember that the news at the time was that we were among the last jurisdictions in North America using white stripes in the centre.
One thing to note between different jurisdictions is whether “no passing in either direction” is denoted with one centre stripe or two; in Nova Scotia it was always two in my memory, but in Quebec and Ontario on secondary roads sometimes only a single stripe is used.
Jim
Ottawa
Oh, and I second/third the idea of looking for old highway manuals - even old driver’s handbooks - in smaller libraries or used book shops. They are a wealth of information about how roads and railway crossings used to look.
I remember (early 1950’s) white centerlines, broken where passing was (theoretically) possible, solid where it wasn’t. No side lines. The one limited access road in my neighborhood was concrete, and drivers used the longitudinal expansion joint for a lane divider.
New York City had 2-color traffic lights, so when they wanted to add a third indication they set up green over red to equal yellow - which led to some interesting results. Some out-of-town drivers would see the red and stop, others would see the green and rear-end the stoppers (or get T-boned by a taxi launching on the opposite red.) As for native New Yorkers? The smart ones took the subway.
Chuck
Don’t forget to remove the dead possum first!
A freind of mine works for the town hiway dept. He said the White lines on the side of the road are called Frost lines. But he dont know why that is.
In California the white lines along the side of the road are often called the “fog line”.
In a CALTRANS Traffic Manual pages dated 11-1991 (the earliest of have found) they are called the “right edgeline”. The line denlineates the outside edge of the “traveled way”. Pavenent to the right is shoulder. Except for specific exceptions in the Vehicle Code. It is not legal for motor vehicles to travel on the shoulder.
The Manual shows a 4" wide solid white line and states “Right Edgeline pattern for use on all State Highways may be used on local streets and highways.”
I never saw a edge line before the mid 1960’s.
The Standard pattern for the 4" wide yellow centerline is shown as: 7’ stripe-17’ space-7’ stripe -17’ space-7’ stripe: for speed zones less than 40 mph, :12’ stripe-36’ space-12’ stripe: for 45 mph or more. The yellow (per my memory) replaced white in the 1960’'s. Solid lines to designate no passing had been in use for many years before the yellow centerlines.
Here are some mid 1940’s photos from the Marysville, CA area (about 40 miles north of Sacramennto)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/152196592@N04/albums/72157683624620570
https://www.flickr.com/photos/152196592@N04/albums/72157685647839546
Some roads back then also used to have these metal guard things on the curbs. At least in Pittsburgh they did anyway. I forget when they got rid of them though. My father works in an autobody shop and was telling me how one time one of those metal plates come up through the floor of some guy’s cadillac and chopped off a chunk of the guy’s butt.[:O]
I love the possum painted over with yellow lines. Definitely must put that in my layout.
Another suggestion attached. Someone sent me that amongst a collection titled “There is a Better Way”.[:D]
Sorry people. There must be a better way to insert images! Have not mastered the system yet.
The photo just showed an edge of road white line that diverted around a fallen branch.
Now I know
[:I]
If anyone else is wondering how to post a photo have a look at the topic “Opinion wanted on this layout” by Smokeyone.
Some kind folk there explained how to do it in terms simple enough for me to follow. That’s got to be simple.