The City's new lane-striping truck paints crisp lines that dry quickly. A mounted message board warns trailing motorists. The end result: No more fuzzy stripes, and fewer incidents of smudges by vehicles driving over the freshly painted stripes.
The City deployed the new $320,000 truck this fall - just in time to start restriping all the downtown streets that had just recently been repaved. It replaced an old truck built in 1997.
"The old truck was seriously underpowered for Knoxville topography," Engineering Director Jim Hagerman said. "It had become extremely unreliable - frequent breakdowns, with repair parts no longer available.
"We're seeing some clear improvements with the new truck. For example, we can average 8 to 10 line miles per day, whereas the old truck averaged 3 to 4 line miles per day. And the new truck has safety features to protect motorists. The message board mounted to rear of truck warns approaching motorists and seems to be minimizing tracked paint by vehicles."
But the biggest advantage might be the crisper lines painted with the new truck. The dryer system allows for more even application of reflective beads, and the heating system overall is much more efficient, allowing paint application at lower ambient temperatures.
Check out the newly painted lines on streets such as
Gay Street, Winona Street, Prosser Road, Morgan Street, Patton Street, Knoxville Zoo Drive and Greenway Drive.
Here (below) is an example of the faint, fuzzy lines painted using the old truck:
And here's an example of the bold, crisp lines painted by the new truck (below):
