Pavement Marking Paint and Glass Bead Quantity
Paint and glass beads for a pavement-marking run.
Example
You enter
- Stripe length (ft) 5280
- Stripe width (in) 4
- Paint coverage (sf/gal) 100
- Glass bead rate (lb/gal) 6
You get
- Stripe area 1,760 sf
- Paint 17.60 gal
- Glass beads 105.6 lb
Checked against published worked examples from: Wyoming Department of Transportation; Iowa Department of Transportation.
Details, formula, and sources
Scopestripe area = length x width / 12; gallons = area / coverage (sf/gal); beads = gallons x rate (lb/gal). A mile of 4-in line is 1,760 sf - at 16 wet mil (100 sf/gal) that is 17.6 gal of paint and 106 lb of beads; a 6-in edge line takes 26.4 gal and 158 lb. The coverage follows the wet-mil thickness and the bead rate the retroreflectivity spec. Distinct from architectural paint-coverage.
Formula or tablestripe_sf = length_ft x width_in / 12; paint_gal = stripe_sf / coverage_sf_per_gal; beads_lb = paint_gal x bead_rate_lb_per_gal.
Source and editionPavement-marking quantity identity by name (area from length x width; gallons from area / coverage; beads from gallons x rate); first-principles arithmetic.
Free accessThe marking quantity is public quantity-survey arithmetic; the coverage and bead rate come from the marking specification.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field nameslength_ft, width_in, coverage_sf_per_gal, bead_rate_lb_per_gal, stripe_sf, paint_gal, beads_lb
- Coverage ~100 sf/gal default for a 16 wet mil line; the marking spec's thickness governsmarking specification
- Bead rate ~6 lb/gal default; set by the retroreflectivity specretroreflectivity specification