California drivers near San Diego were met with temporary orange road markings on the highway, replacing traditional white and yellow stripes.
The orange stripes are part of a pilot project by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and SANDAG Build NCC to warn drivers they are entering an active construction zone, according to BGR.
The orange stripes are only temporary and are used to alert drivers to lane shifts, reduced speeds and other changes when entering work zones.
BGR reported that the markings have displayed several benefits, including:
- More attention-grabbing to drivers
- Can be seen more clearly at night than cones
- More clearly mark the beginning and end of a work zone than road signs
- Better delineates lane shifts during construction
The project was deemed successful with drivers showing more caution when traveling through the construction zone. While some drivers were not initially aware of the stripes’ meaning, their similarity to standard construction-zone orange helped drivers infer their purpose.
Pilot origins
A fact sheet released by SANDAG Build NCC detailed the pilor project’s debut in Spring 2022 during construction on Interstate 5, tied to the Carlsbad HOV lane extension.
According to Build NCC, this marked California’s first use of orange striping after receiving approval from the Federal Highway Administration.
The three other states to implement orange striping are Wisconsin, Texas and Kentucky, and other countries to test the markings include New Zealand and Canada. BGR reported that Michigan and Washington also piloted orange striping in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
According to BGR, Wisconsin was the first state to test orange markings about a decade ago, prompted by severe winter conditions that made traditional lane shifts difficult to see.
Work zone safety impacts
Construction zone crashes remain an ongoing issue nationwide, BGR reported, with fatalities holding between 700 and 1,000 annually since 2015.
Researchers studied the project’s impacts in 2023 and found lane-departure crashes dropped by 74% in area using orange striping. Most drivers approved of the markings and reported they were helpful.
Additionally, drivers reduced speeds by an average of 4 mph in construction zones with orange markings compared to those without.
The orange striping is also expected to support autonomous vehicles and robotaxis by improving lane visibility in active work zones, BGR reported.
Sources: BGR, SANDAG Build NCC
