By Chad Klassen

City of Kamloops testing unique road marking product

Apr 20, 2016 | 4:54 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops is testing out a new product on city roads that’s supposed to last four or five times longer than regular road paint.

Starting today, the city is working with Magnolia, a company from Atlanta, Georgia, which is in Kamloops to apply a special polyurea. Unlike paint and thermoplastic, polyurea is designated as a long-life pavement marking with a higher resilience to degradation. 

This is the first time the product has ever been used in Canada. It’s a more durable, more reflective paint that’s part of a test project at the intersection of 8th Street and Batchelor Drive.

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“It’s a high ware area for our line markings,” says Streets & Environmental Services manager Glen Farrow. “We’re always looking for an opportunity to improve the durability of our markings and lines throughout the city. We had an opportunity to work with a company and put down a new product. This will be the first test deck in all of Canada.”

Artie Livingston from Magnolia Advanced Materials says it’s a great opportunity to break into the Canadian market.

“It’s a polyurea, it’s a 2-to-1 product, the durability, the longevity, and the glass-bead retention. The glass beads will provide night-time reflectivity. The white provides day-time contrast to the pavement. It’s a durable product – snowplow durable, traffic durable.”

The trial isn’t costing the city anything, and staff will have the luxury of waiting a few months before making a final decision to use the paint across the rest of the city.