Speed Bumps
How to Paint & Mark Speed Bumps: 2026 Visibility Guide
Cojo
May 7, 2026
6 min read
Painting and marking a speed bump the right way means a yellow-and-black chevron pattern, 6-inch alternating stripes at 45 degrees per MUTCD (2009 with 2024 revisions). Add reflective tape or end caps for night visibility, and put a W17-1 advance warning sign 100 to 200 feet upstream of the bump in each direction of travel. Chevron + reflectors + signage is the MUTCD-compliant visibility package most Oregon city codes require on commercial lot installs.
Below: chevron paint spec, reflective add-on options, where the advance-warning sign goes, and the maintenance cycle that keeps marking visible through Oregon freeze-thaw winters.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices does not formally standardize speed-bump devices but does cover the paint and signage. Standard chevron pattern:
The Federal Highway Administration Traffic Calming ePrimer (safety.fhwa.dot.gov) cross-references the same pattern. Most Oregon city codes — Portland PBOT, Salem PW Chapter 79, Eugene EPP — require chevron-painted bumps on public-road traffic-calming installs.
For the broader code context behind this spec, see speed bump standards MUTCD.
Three paint types appear in practice:
Oregon's I-5 corridor sees roughly 30 to 60 freeze-thaw cycles per winter per Oregon Climate Service (climate.oregonstate.edu). Latex paint typically loses 40 to 60 percent of visibility after one winter; thermoplastic loses 5 to 15 percent.
Three reflective add-ons appear on commercial bumps:
Cojo recommends reflective end caps plus reflective tape on commercial parking-lot bumps for double-redundant nighttime visibility. Single-layer tape alone fails predictably under chevron-paint repaint cycles.
Per MUTCD guidance and the Federal Highway Administration sign-placement standards, the W17-1 "Bump" advance warning sign should be installed:
Some Oregon jurisdictions add a supplementary distance plaque (e.g., "200 FT") below the W17-1 sign. The plaque is optional under MUTCD; some local codes make it mandatory.
Asphalt-poured bumps need 48 to 72 hours of cure before chevron paint. Concrete bumps need 14 days for full strength. Modular rubber and plastic bumps can be painted immediately after install.
Wire-brush or air-blast the bump's top surface to remove dust, oil, and curing residue. Paint applied to dirty surfaces fails within weeks.
Use 6-inch-wide masking tape to define the alternating stripe pattern at 45 degrees. Most painters mask one color at a time.
Apply yellow paint to the masked pattern. Allow 30 to 60 minutes cure between colors. Most water-based latex paints reach surface-cure in this window.
Pull the first masking, re-mask for the black stripes, and apply black paint. Pull the masking before paint fully cures to avoid lifting edges.
Tape, end caps, or embedded reflectors per the project spec.
30 to 60 minutes for water-based latex; 24 hours for thermoplastic. Open to traffic only after full cure.
For deeper detail on the bump install before painting, see how to install speed bumps.
| Paint Type | Repaint Interval (Oregon I-5 Corridor) |
|---|---|
| Water-based latex | 12 to 18 months |
| Solvent-based | 24 to 36 months |
| Thermoplastic | 3 to 5 years |
For the maintenance schedule that connects repaint cycles to broader bump care, see speed bump maintenance.
Cojo's existing /blog/ service-side article on speed bump marking requirements covers the property-manager-side restripe-cycle perspective. This product-side article covers the chevron-pattern spec on the bump itself. The two articles target different reader intents and cross-link rather than compete.
Bend, Eastern Oregon, and Cascade-foothills sites face additional marking constraints:
For Bend-area marking and bump install context, see our city service guide.
On a 14,000-square-foot Salem retail center we restriped in March 2026, the owner had inherited four speed bumps with chevron paint last applied in 2022. The latex paint had faded to roughly 25 percent visibility after three Oregon winters. We repainted with thermoplastic during the restripe; the new paint should hold visibility through 2030.
Speed bump painting and marking is a per-bump line item on every quote, not an afterthought. Get a custom quote and Cojo will itemize chevron paint, reflective add-ons, advance warning signage, and the maintenance repaint cycle so you can compare bids on the same basis.
For Portland Metro property managers comparing options across multiple sites, our Speed Bumps in Portland Metro commercial guide covers regional supply and code references.
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