Laserlux Ready for Action

The Laserlux may sound like a super hero, but it’s really a tool for MoDOT to use to improve safety for Missouri drivers and save taxpayer money. MoDOT purchased the laserlux retroreflectometer in 2007 to help ensure pavement markings’ visibility to nighttime drivers, and it is now getting off the ground and on the road.

Visible pavement markings are key in keeping drivers safe on Missouri’s roadways. To ensure these markings are visible to drivers, MoDOT must regularly monitor the marking’s retroreflectivity. The laserlux is mounted on the outside of a vehicle and scans the markings with a laser beam and measures how much light is returned.

The measurements from the laserlux will be helpful in experimenting with new types of pavement markings, quality assurance and for reporting in MoDOT’s Tracker, a quarterly report that track’s the department’s performance.  

MoDOT delayed using the machine this summer because of concerns that the readings weren’t consistent. MoDOT Technical Support Engineer Jim Brocksmith said that after working on the machine this spring and summer, it is ready to be used on a regular basis.

“We took it up to Iowa, who already has one up and running, to have them look at it,” Brocksmith said. “The manufacturer also came down and we were able to pick up some tidbits and are about to get this thing going.”

Besides keeping roads safe for travel, the laserlux retroreflectometer will also save the department money. Brocksmith said while it is hard to tell exactly how much money the laserlux will save MoDOT, the more work the machine does, the less the department has to pay vendors to do the work. He said MoDOT pays $20 per mile for the contractor to do the work of the laserlux.