According to the report prepared by the CTC & Associates LLC WisDOT RD&T Program for the Bureau of Highway Operations Divisions of Transportation Infrastructure Development, "For about 10 years, the work has been outsourced to accommodate significant MDOT downsizing. The $10 million per year spent on marking, including re-striping 90 percent of the state roads each year...the cost of such work has dropped slightly over the decade." This proves that the decision to outsource does not save costs if the pavements markings and signings are not kept properly. Instead outsourcing benefits streamline responsibilities and activities.
             To maintain pavement marking it is important to consider the appropriate type of binder material to use. Since highways are built to contain higher volume conditions, the order from most to least cost-effective is "...polyurea, waffle tape, thermoplastic, and epoxy. When only the annualized installation costs are considered...the order from least to most expensive is thermoplastic, epoxy, polyurea, and waffle tape." Michigan currently uses waffle tape which is the most expensive and not the most cost-effective for highway pavement markings. According to the data using polyurea material would cost less and simultaneously be the most cost-effective for Michigan.
             Increasing the retro-reflectivity of the paint increases the quality of the pavement markings during nighttime driving. It is important to recognize that retro-reflectivity is dependent on the number of beads embedded inside the binder material. These glass beads provide the retro-reflect back to the driver once light rays enter the beads. The distance at which the marking or sign is placed is crucial to its visibility because that determines the angle at which the driver can see the marking or sign. This is proven in the figure below, taken from research of the 3M™ Traffic Control Materials laboratory:
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