Section 5: Final Acceptance
Final acceptance is a quality assurance measure that involves inspecting the markings a certain amount of time after all markings have been placed. It is recommended that a striping quantity be measured and accepted on a daily basis. TxDOT Specification Item 666 requires that markings meet all specification requirements for a minimum of 15 calendar days after installation. Final acceptance generally includes two inspection tasks:
- measurement of quantities for contract pay items
- measurement of marking retroreflectivity (if specified in contract).
Pay quantities should be measured and documented on a daily basis for each contract. These quantities should also be periodically confirmed with the pavement marking contractor to help avoid future quantity disputes.
Many TxDOT pavement marking contracts now require markings to comply with minimum levels of retroreflectivity a specified number of days after placement for the markings to be accepted. Compliance is often determined by comparing a series of retroreflectivity measurements taken with a handheld or mobile retroreflectometer to minimum levels specified in the contract.
The purpose of final acceptance is to provide a reasonable amount of assurance that newly applied markings will meet or exceed service life expectations for retroreflectivity. Because loosely adhered glass beads are often removed from the marking soon after the markings are open to traffic, retroreflectivity may change rapidly during the first few days after placement. Therefore, retroreflectivity should be measured after markings are applied and retroreflectivity has stabilized, which usually occurs a number of days after striping.
Retroreflectivity measurement for final acceptance should be performed in accordance with TxDOT Special Specification 8975. The sun-over-shoulder method described in Test Method Tex-828-B should only be used as a guide to determine the nighttime appearance of the markings, not for final acceptance purposes.