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Paint the Lines: Petition for more visible lanes on Utah roads gets more than 6,500 signatures

Posted at 6:25 PM, Feb 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-11 00:05:50-05

SALT LAKE CITY -- We all know how dicey it can get out on Utah roads, especially at night. 

Nick Bodkin started a petition, calling out Governor Herbert and other Utah legislators to fix the painted lines on our roads to become more visible.

“We’re just wanting to make a platform that’s large enough that we can take it them and kind of force a change in policy,” said Bodkin. 

Bodkin hopes the petition will change the policy of painted lines on our roads.

“It just becomes invisible,” said Bodkin. “They’re not capturing light, reflecting it back to you, you’re just on a black road.” 

John Gleason with the Utah Department of Transportation said there’s already reflective paint on the roads.

“The standard reflective bead goes down in all of our paints, and they’re glass beads that, when the headlights shine down on the striping, reflect back,” said Gleason. 

But during the winter weather, Gleason said the glass beads painted in the stripes don’t reflect the best. 

“Especially this time of year, you’ve got salt, you’ve got dirt on the road and that can really cut down on the visibility of the stripping there,” said Gleason.

Gleason said UDOT is testing out different weather restraint paint out on two areas of I-215.

“We’re encouraged by our results right now, and in the future here, we could see that test area expand and who knows? This could be the new standard here,” said Gleason.

With almost 6,000 signatures on his petition, Bodkin said he hopes that something will be done sooner rather than later. 

“It’s just one of those things that up to this point we’ve kind of been complacent with and sort of just dealt with,” said Bodkin. 

To view the petition, click here.