Your brain! I'm not being flippant, it's just that striping is moreso dictated, not designed. You can specify the materials and application, you can specify maintenance of traffic if done on an road that is already open,and you can consult regulatory requirements, but good ol' common sense needs to prevail.
MUTCD is a good place to start, if you are referring to location of placement criteria. FHWA website.
Who you are designing "for" should have standards that will dictate your parameters. We have standards for: Freeways, two lane, TWLTL, Divided Highway, Super 2, etc. and so on.
And of course there is quite a bit of variance on how organizations want it done with regard to materials. Is your rdwy. concrete, ACP, OCST? This will make a difference as to materials.
Hope this helps.
The sun never sets. It is we who rise & think to shine.
Just as a point of interest, we also have a document called the MUTCD here in Australia. Ours stands for Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, if yours stands for the same I guess someone somewhere has done some plagiarism. Then again it could be just a case of like minds chasing the same endeavour will come up with the same result.
Apologies to jmcsummit, I'm not trying to hijack your thread.
Yes, several if not all states have their own MUTCD, which is based on the (US) Federal Highway Administration MUTCD, which is the standard.
Cities, counties, utility co.s, and municipalities are supposed to follow these guidelines (actually anyone on the roadway) but they seldom do.
* Had a colleague vacation down under a few weeks back, he and his wife had a great time.*
Most state highway DOT's have test areas for different paint products and results of how well it holds up. That should be public information and may help get a good job for you.
