Missing stripes Where are the stripes marking the lanes on
Highway 101 between Morgan Hill and Gilroy?
Missing stripes
Where are the stripes marking the lanes on Highway 101 between Morgan Hill and Gilroy? Ever since Caltrans resurfaced the road bed, the road has remained a chalky white color, with nary a line in sight. This is dangerous, especially when it’s raining and it certainly has been raining lately. There are a few Botts Dots but they are few and far between and not sufficient to keep other drivers from swerving into me. Who do we light a fire under?
Thank you, caller, for pointing out this malfunction. Red Phone drove to Gilroy this week to check out your statement and found that, of course, what you claimed is absolutely true. We were just glad it was daylight and dry – sort of. The weather was catching its breath, getting ready for another onslaught of precipitation.
Lupe Solis, spokeswoman for Valley Transportation Authority, said that, while Caltrans is responsible, she believes the restriping is waiting for the rain to stop. Caltrans spokeswoman, Brigita Smith, said the culprit is the weather. Not rain so much as cold.
“It has to be at least 65 degrees before we can stripe,” Smith said Thursday, “and we’re just not getting that.”
Caltrans will install temporary striping next week (Jan. 17-21) as long as it doesn’t rain. That should last enough weeks to see warmer weather and allow the paint crew to do its thing. The smallish Botts dots will eventually be beefed up, too.
“Nothing out there is permanent,” Smith said.
So, for the time being, drive carefully out there.
By the way, Botts Dots were invented in 1953 by Caltrans engineer Elbert D. Botts, working in the agency’s Sacramento lab. Botts, who died in 1962, is credited for saving countless lives with his raised pavement markers, visible in the dark and in rain and obvious when drivers get too close to an adjacent lane. Thank you, Dr. Botts.
Other highway engineers have finally solved the only drawback of the little buttons – the tendency of snow removal vehicles to scrape them off with the snow. Visitors to the Sierra in the past few years will notice a notched area, about the width of a road stripe, separating the lanes. They aren’t susceptible to snowplow blades but are highly noticeable if you drive over them.
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