A decade of Nordic road marking certification

In Norway, a 600-metre-long stretch of road outside Elverum is illuminated by long rows of white and yellow road markings. The same thing can be seen just outside the Danish town of Herning, although the rows are shorter and the markings are all white. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Nordic road marking certification from NordicCert.

The official title is the somewhat longer and more convoluted Nordic certification system for road marking materials, but the operation is simple and specific. At the two Nordic test fields, road marking materials are tested and certified in various classes. Or not, as the case may be: approximately 40 per cent of all test materials fail to reach the minimum standard for certification.

The purpose of the system is to enhance the quality of road markings by allowing road operators to require certification in their procurements. The materials in question are largely two types of thermoplastic and paint, although in recent years recycled materials have also been tested.
The organisation is run by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in collaboration with consultancy firm Ramboll.

“It consists of me and Hanna Fager at VTI, project manager Morten Hafting at Ramboll and two measuring equipment operators. So, its a fairly small and simple organisation. We don’t have an office, we just work on the two roads in Denmark and Norway,” explains Carina Fors, senior researcher at VTI and deputy project manager for Nordic Cert.

Manufacturers apply their own road markings, which are then measured on three occasions: immediately after application, then after one and two years. The various materials are measured for retroreflectivity, luminance, friction and colour, taking into account the number of wheel passages. One passing vehicle equals two wheel passages.

Certification is divided into six so-called P-classes from ≤ 50,000 wheel passages in P0 to 1,000,000 in P5. The Danish test field also has the classes P5.5 and P6. P6 is equivalent to 2,000,000 wheel passages.

“Denmark doesn’t have studded tyres, so there is significantly less wear. This is why we have a separate test field there, and their classifications are also slightly different,” explains Fors, who adds that only Norway has yellow road markings.

Have you noticed any change in quality over the last 10 years?

“Yes, we often hear from road operators that it has improved. The lowest price used to be the main consideration, and these cheap materials were often not up to standard. It’s now possible to specify completely different requirements in procurement processes.”

Each year around 15 new materials are tested in Denmark and 30 to 40 at the Norwegian test field. It total, 708 materials have been tested over the last 10 years. The requirement for the roads is that they are flat and straight. The kilometre-long stretch of road in Norway will be adequate for many years to come, but a new test field will soon be needed in Denmark.

Translation: CBG