I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5245 

To establish minimum standards for engineered glass beads used in reflective 

markings. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2010 

Mr. HOLDEN (for himself and Mr. SHUSTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish minimum standards for engineered glass beads 

used in reflective markings. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Highway Mark5 ings Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR ENGINEERED GLASS 

7 BEADS USED IN REFLECTIVE MARKINGS. 

8 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 3 of title 23, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding after section 329 the 

10 following new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 330. Minimum standards for engineered glass 

2 beads used in reflective markings 

3 ‘‘(a) MINIMUM STANDARDS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

5 State that receives funds under this title shall en6 sure that any new application of reflective markings, 

7 on or along any road or highway, shall be made 

8 from a binder that has been mixed, in whole or in 

9 part, with engineered glass beads. Such beads may 

10 not contain more than 200 parts per million arsenic, 

11 as determined by the Environmental Protection 

12 Agency Method 6010C in conjunction with the Envi13 ronmental Protection Agency Method 3052 modified. 

14 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—The Secretary of 

15 Transportation, acting through the Administrator of 

16 the Federal Highway Administration, shall withhold 

17 up to 5 percent of the amount required to be appor18 tioned to a State under section 104(b) (1), (3), and 

19 (4) of title 23 on the first day of the fiscal year be20 ginning after September 30, 2011, throughout which 

21 the State does not comply substantially with a re22 quirement of this section. 

23 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY FOR APPORTIONMENT.— 

24 Amounts withheld under this section from apportion25 ment to a State after September 30, 2011, are not 

26 available for apportionment to the State. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) ENGINEERED GLASS BEADS.—The term 

3 ‘engineered glass beads’ means glass beads produced 

4 to meet retroreflectivity and durability performance 

5 based on the following properties: 

6 ‘‘(A) Size distribution (bead size distribu7 tion ranges between 100 U.S. Mesh to 14 U.S. 

8 Mesh) exposes at least 35 percent of the diame9 ter of the glass beads above the dry paint sur10 face with remaining glass embedded into the 

11 paint. 

12 ‘‘(B) Surface functional coating ensures 

13 that the inorganic composition of the glass bead 

14 surface is compatible with the organic composi15 tion of the paint formulation to achieve ade16 quate bead-paint adhesion. 

17 ‘‘(C) Refractive index of the glass bead 

18 provides the required light refraction character19 istics that will enable adequate retroreflectivity 

20 performance (refractive index in the 1.50 to 

21 1.60 range) required for the application. 

22 ‘‘(D) Mechanical properties of the glass 

23 bead allow adequate strength (compressive 

24 strength of at least 30,000 pounds per square 


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1 inch) to withstand the conditions in the road2 ways. 

3 ‘‘(E) Chemical make of the glass beads 

4 (soda-lime-silica based chemistry) allows the use 

5 of environmentally acceptable recycled glass 

6 types, such as flat and container type glasses, 

7 as the main raw material in the manufacturing 

8 process. 

9 ‘‘(2) REFLECTIVE MARKING.—The term ‘reflec10 tive marking’ means a system composed of pig11 mented binders, including paint, thermoplastic, and 

12 epoxy, that is applied at a predefined thickness onto 

13 the pavement surface with glass beads mixed into or 

14 dropped onto the binder at a predefined surface cov15 erage rate.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

17 chapter 3 of title 23 is amended by adding after the item 

18 relating to section 329 the following: 

‘‘330. Minimum standard for engineered glass beads used in reflective markings.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

21 become effective 90 days after the date of enactment of 

22 this Act. 

Æ 


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