Environmentally Advanced Road Markings Pave a Safer Way

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--If you live in Wyoming, you drive far more on average than most Americans: almost 22,000 miles a year. Alaskans, however, drive less than half that, or 10,000 miles a year. Regardless of how long you spend behind the wheel in any state, you’re following road markings applied with specialized reflective paints on just about every mile of every trip. A leading global specialty materials company has created ingredients for environmentally advanced, high-performance road paints that can make your journeys safer while actually helping the planet. How are the paints doing it? By reducing volatile organic emissions, improving traffic flow and increasing safety.

Specialty materials company Rohm and Haas (NYSE:ROH), headquartered in Philadelphia, has developed an innovative line of acrylic resins that function as road paint binders. The environmentally advanced formulation of these resins is based on water rather than solvents, the traditional binder used in road paints. Waterborne materials preserve air quality for travelers and road crews alike by eliminating the potentially unhealthy and harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that solventborne materials emit. In addition, waterborne acrylic resins use renewable water as a main ingredient instead of costly fossil fuels that require energy-intensive transport and refining. This earth-friendly and worker-safe waterborne formulation has drawn positive governmental attention: transportation authorities in the U.S. and a growing number of countries throughout the world are switching to waterborne traffic paints because of increasingly stringent environmental regulations and the excellent performance of these paints.

Road paints made with Rohm and Haas fast dry technology also trump traditional water-borne road paints in other ways. They dry much faster, can be applied in a wide range of temperatures and very importantly, last much longer before needing repainting. Together, these attributes help reduce lane closures and diminish traffic congestion due to roadwork. Besides causing each of us to tap our fingers for more than 60 hours on the freeway every year, traffic congestion is a significant environmental issue. It wastes almost 3 billion gallons of fuel annually while adding to air pollution. And better road markings have an immediate human impact, too. The American Traffic Safety Services Association estimates that almost 3,000 traffic injuries and deaths could be avoided every year simply through improved road markings.

Through these and many other measures, Rohm and Haas is helping to safeguard driver safety and our environment by making the impossible possible.

About Rohm and Haas Company

Leading the way since 1909, Rohm and Haas is a global pioneer in the creation and development of innovative technologies and solutions for the specialty materials industry. The company’s technologies are found in a wide range of industries including: Building and Construction, Electronics and Electronic Devices, Household Goods and Personal Care, Packaging and Paper, Transportation, Pharmaceutical and Medical, Water, Food and Food Related, and Industrial Process. Innovative Rohm and Haas technologies and solutions help to improve life every day, around the world. Based in Philadelphia, PA, the company generated annual sales of approximately $8.9 billion in 2007. Visit www.rohmhaas.com for more information. Imagine the possibilities™