Road line marking on the Sunshine Coast

Public road or private road

This is the first question, and it changes everything about how the job runs.

Public roads are managed by the local council or, on state controlled roads, by the Department of Transport and Main Roads. Marking on those is done to their specifications, generally by contractors on their panel, and it is not something a property owner arranges directly.

Private roads cover a great deal of what actually gets marked on the Sunshine Coast: industrial estates, business parks, retirement villages, caravan parks, resorts, large body corporate sites and the internal roads of larger commercial properties. Here the owner arranges the work, and it is closer in practice to car park marking than to highway work.

The grey area is new subdivisions, where roads are built privately and then handed over to council. Marking there has to satisfy the council's requirements before it is accepted, which means the specification matters even though the developer is paying.

What gets marked

• Centre lines. Separating opposing traffic, continuous or broken depending on sight distance and overtaking.
• Edge lines. Defining the trafficable width, useful at night and in rain.
• Give way and stop bars. With the associated triangles or holding line at intersections.
• Turn arrows and lane markings. Where lanes split or dedicate.
• Pedestrian crossings. Which on a public road carry approval requirements of their own.
• Speed hump and threshold marking. Chevrons and approach marking for traffic calming.
• Kerb marking. Yellow no-standing lines, fire lanes and loading zones.
• Raised pavement markers. Reflective markers used alongside marking for night visibility.

Material and durability

Roads take far more punishment than car parks. Vehicles travel over the same lines at speed, thousands of times a day, and in the wet the marking has to stay visible when it matters most.

That pushes road work toward more durable systems than car park paint. Thermoplastic is common for its thickness and life, and glass beads are typically applied so the marking retroreflects headlights at night. On a road being handed to council, the specification will usually dictate both the material and the retroreflectivity requirement rather than leaving it to preference.

On a private road with light traffic, standard paint may be perfectly adequate and considerably cheaper. The judgement is about traffic volume, speed and whether the road is used at night.

Traffic management

Any marking on a road that carries live traffic needs the work zone managed. Depending on the road that can mean anything from signage and cones through to a formal traffic management plan and accredited traffic controllers.

This is a genuine cost line and it is frequently the largest single item on a road marking quote. When comparing prices, confirm whether traffic management is included or excluded, because a quote without it is not comparable to one with it.

Timing on the Coast

Two local factors. The wet season means road surfaces stay damp, and marking will not bond to a damp road, so scheduling in summer needs contingency. And new asphalt needs to cure before marking, so a road that has just been sealed cannot be marked the same day.

On subdivision work this matters because handover dates are usually fixed. It is worth sequencing the seal and the marking with enough gap that a week of rain does not push the whole program.