NDLI: Road marking coverage by volcanic ash: an experimental approach

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Blake, Daniel M. Wilson, Thomas M. Gomez, Christopher
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	Coverage of road markings by volcanic ash is one of the most commonly reported impacts to surface transportation networks during volcanic ashfall. Even minimal accumulation can obscure markings, leading to driver disorientation, diminished flow capacity and an increase in accidents. Such impacts may recur due to repeated direct ashfall (i.e. during prolonged eruptions) and/or due to the re-suspension of ash by wind, water, traffic or other human activities, and subsequent secondary deposition on the road surface. Cleaning is thus required to restore and maintain road network functionality. Previous studies have not constrained ash accumulation measurements to inform road cleaning initiation or plans for safe road operations in environments containing ash. This study uses a laboratory approach with digital image analysis to quantify the percentage of white road marking coverage by three types of volcanic ash with coarse, medium and fine particle size distributions. We find that very small accumulations of ash are responsible for road marking coverage and suggest that around 8 % visible white paint or less would result in the road markings being hidden. Road markings are more easily covered by fine-grained ash, with ash area densities of ~30 g m$^{−2}$ (estimated at <0.1 mm surface thickness) potentially causing markings to be obscured. For the coarse ash in our study, road marking coverage occurs at area densities of ~1000–2200 g m$^{−2}$ (~1.0–2.5 mm depth) with ash colour and line paint characteristics causing some of the variation. We suggest that risk management measures such as vehicle speed reduction and the initiation of road cleaning activities should be taken at or before the lower thresholds as our experiments are conducted at a relatively short horizontal distance and the ability to observe road markings when driving will be comparatively reduced.
Starting Page	1
Ending Page	12
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	18666280
Journal	Environmental Earth Sciences
Volume Number	75
Issue Number	20
e-ISSN	18666299
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2016-10-12
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Stone mastic asphalt Visibility Image analysis Road safety Transportation Hazard Impact Geology Hydrology/Water Resources Geochemistry Environmental Science and Engineering Terrestrial Pollution Biogeosciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Global and Planetary Change Earth-Surface Processes Soil Science Environmental Chemistry Pollution Geology Water Science and Technology

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