Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Moves Its Bridge Painting into the 21st Century

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is rapidly evolving its bridge-painting operations to address the diverse challenges of the 21st century. At the forefront of this effort is the KYTC Paint Team, a multi-disciplinary task force of KYTC personnel representing the KYTC divisions involved in paint activities as well as researchers from the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) at the University of Kentucky. Key features of the Paint Team are its close interagency cooperation within KYTC on all facets of bridge painting and the total integration of KTC researchers’ work in Paint Team activities, including laboratory work and field testing. The Paint Team works to achieve incremental improvements on all painting projects. Current Paint Team goals to advance KYTC painting operations include enhancing environmental and worker safety compliance on all projects; improving contractor quality and KYTC field inspections; employing cost-effective bridge-painting options to better address project needs; testing and developing promising new coatings and related technologies; improving project delivery; sharing information with peer groups; and committing to context sensitivity on all bridge-painting projects. This innovative approach has enabled the KYTC to successfully progress and to grow its activities in a field that is beset with technical and regulatory impediments. It is a model that can be used to address highway issues and is amenable for adoption by other transportation agencies.