Opinion: New orange freeway lines aim to promote safety

Carvalho is the communications manager at Skanska USA and lives in Los Angeles.

Have you seen the temporary orange striping on Interstate 5 between Palomar Airport Road and state Route 78? In a survey conducted by Caltrans, San Diego Association of Governments and the Build North Coast Corridor construction team, not only did 94 percent of participants notice the orange contrasted striping, but over 80 percent said it increased their awareness of being in a road construction zone.

For many of us, navigating construction work zones is a part of our daily commute, and it’s easy to be on “autopilot” when we should be exercising increased awareness. In 2021, there were over 106,000 work zone crashes across the U.S., several of which resulted in a fatality. In an effort to address that, Caltrans and SANDAG created a program to pilot the use of temporary orange contrast striping in the construction zones. It was intended to create clear and distinct lane lines, bring awareness to the active work zone, draw attention to the reduced speed limit, and ultimately improve the safety of our workers and drivers.

The use of the iconic orange as a contrast color has never been done before in the United States, and the Build North Coast Corridor project is taking the lead in not only making safety a priority but finding innovative ways to do so. The goal of the pilot program was to emphasize the color of safety zone standards like cones and concrete barriers which drivers already recognize as signals to take caution.

Caltrans hired the Build North Coast Corridor, a partnership of the three large construction contractors Flatiron, Skanska and Stacy & Witbeck, to turn the vision of what might seem simple in theory — adding a new color to the road — into a reality by identifying materials that work and equipment that could handle the project. Flatiron, Skanska and Stacy & Witbeck successfully laid down the orange safety striping in May 2022.

Caltrans is working with UC Davis to collect data on the success of the pilot including lane changes and speed. In addition, Caltrans actively sought public feedback as an additional benchmark for success. Build North Coast Corridor surveyed a wide array of drivers from your everyday San Diego commuter to local Southern California visitors, many of whom were not aware of the plans to lay down the safety striping. According to the survey, the orange contrasted striping caused 58 percent of participants to drive at a safer speed in the work zone, and 60 percent felt that the orange-contrasted lane line striping makes it easier to stay in their lane.

Caltrans and UC Davis are compiling an official report to determine the success of the program. The report will include results from data collection of lane changes and positioning, collision rates and speed in the work zone, and effectiveness of the color scheme using video monitors, vehicle movements and devices to track the brightness and reflectivity of the paint over time.

I am proud to live in a state and a community that is not afraid to take an important step forward in making our work zones safer. I’m confident that California will continue to fine-tune this process and make our highways safer.