Safe Highway Markings Act of 2010

Safe Highway Markings Act of 2010 - Prescribes minimum standards for engineered glass beads used in reflective markings, limiting the arsenic content to 200 parts per million.

Requires states that receive certain federal-aid highway funds to ensure that any new application of reflective markings on or along federal-aid highway roads or highways be made from a binder that has been mixed, in whole or in part, with engineered glass beads.

Requires the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), to withhold up to 5% of the apportionment of funds for any state that does not comply with such standards.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5245 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Highway Markings Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR ENGINEERED GLASS BEADS USED IN REFLECTIVE 
              MARKINGS.

    (a) Amendment.--Chapter 3 of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after section 329 the following new section:
``Sec. 330. Minimum standards for engineered glass beads used in 
              reflective markings
    ``(a) Minimum Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), a State that 
        receives funds under this title shall ensure that any new 
        application of reflective markings, on or along any road or 
        highway, shall be made from a binder that has been mixed, in 
        whole or in part, with engineered glass beads. Such beads may 
        not contain more than 200 parts per million arsenic, as 
        determined by the Environmental Protection Agency Method 6010C 
        in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency Method 
        3052 modified.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--The Secretary of Transportation, 
        acting through the Administrator of the Federal Highway 
        Administration, shall withhold up to 5 percent of the amount 
        required to be apportioned to a State under section 104(b) (1), 
        (3), and (4) of title 23 on the first day of the fiscal year 
        beginning after September 30, 2011, throughout which the State 
        does not comply substantially with a requirement of this 
        section.
            ``(3) Availability for apportionment.--Amounts withheld 
        under this section from apportionment to a State after 
        September 30, 2011, are not available for apportionment to the 
        State.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Engineered glass beads.--The term `engineered glass 
        beads' means glass beads produced to meet retroreflectivity and 
        durability performance based on the following properties:
                    ``(A) Size distribution (bead size distribution 
                ranges between 100 U.S. Mesh to 14 U.S. Mesh) exposes 
                at least 35 percent of the diameter of the glass beads 
                above the dry paint surface with remaining glass 
                embedded into the paint.
                    ``(B) Surface functional coating ensures that the 
                inorganic composition of the glass bead surface is 
                compatible with the organic composition of the paint 
                formulation to achieve adequate bead-paint adhesion.
                    ``(C) Refractive index of the glass bead provides 
                the required light refraction characteristics that will 
                enable adequate retroreflectivity performance 
                (refractive index in the 1.50 to 1.60 range) required 
                for the application.
                    ``(D) Mechanical properties of the glass bead allow 
                adequate strength (compressive strength of at least 
                30,000 pounds per square inch) to withstand the 
                conditions in the roadways.
                    ``(E) Chemical make of the glass beads (soda-lime-
                silica based chemistry) allows the use of 
                environmentally acceptable recycled glass types, such 
                as flat and container type glasses, as the main raw 
                material in the manufacturing process.
            ``(2) Reflective marking.--The term `reflective marking' 
        means a system composed of pigmented binders, including paint, 
        thermoplastic, and epoxy, that is applied at a predefined 
        thickness onto the pavement surface with glass beads mixed into 
        or dropped onto the binder at a predefined surface coverage 
        rate.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 3 of title 23 
is amended by adding after the item relating to section 329 the 
following:

``330. Minimum standard for engineered glass beads used in reflective 
                            markings.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall become effective 
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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