HIGHWAY DOTS LOSING SHINE.

Byline: Gary Richards Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

You may not know Elbert Dysart Botts' work, but you certainly feel it. Every day, if you drive a California highway.

Botts Dots, they're called - the small glass and ceramic buttons that divide lanes. A part of California highways and byways for three decades, they now may be going the way of the 55 mph speed limit.

With thousands of more cars pounding the pavement, with road widening resulting in a confusing overlay of old, temporary and new markers and with a state transportation agency desperate to trim costs, this brainchild of a one-time San Jose State University professor turned Caltrans engineer is being driven right into the history books.

``It's the end of an era, I guess,'' said Caltrans spokesman Jeff Weiss.

``It's kind of sad that we might be getting away from them,'' he added. ``Dr. Botts invented them in a Caltrans laboratory and we've been really proud of Botts Dots. They've been used worldwide.''

They've been as much a part of our highways and byways as roads signs since they first appeared in 1966 on Interstate 80 in Solano County and Highway 99 outside Fresno.

The new preferred way to separate lanes is with thermoplastic striping, which looks like white paint but is actually material melted onto the pavement. New stuff that lasts longer, reflects night-time light (as did the dots), costs $3 less for 30 feet of installation and when the morning or evening sun is low in the sky, sure seems a heck of lot easier for a driver to see.

For years, motorists have complained among themselves and to Caltrans that after roads were widened - especially those that run east and west - they could not distinguish new lane markings from old. Ghost markings, Caltrans calls them, referring to ripped-out sections of paint and Botts Dots that left dark strips in the roadway. Toss in a pouring rain or bright sunshine during the commute and you could almost hear the screams of drivers:

``WHERE IS MY LANE''

Just two weeks ago, a car driven by commuter Jon Clark of San Jose was almost sideswiped by another car that veered out of its lane on a I-280 curve near Meridian Avenue, where only dots are used as temporary lanes bend around a seismic retrofit project.

``I veered (away) and in doing so moved over into the lane of another car whose driver angrily honked and shook his fist at me,'' Clark said.

``The lines in the road are so hopelessly confusing at that spot that I immediately thought I must be at fault,'' he explained. ``The passenger with me, however, was certain I was in my proper lane.''

And when Highway 85 opened in October 1994, only the dots were used on the concrete. Another problem. Not only does this road run mostly in an east-west direction, the pavement is a shade of gray. Smudge a little dirt on the buttons and within two years drivers were complaining about this road.

Even on roads like Highway 17 and I-680 where sunlight problems are rare, drivers say they can't tell one lane from another. The reason: Botts Dots have fallen out.

``I really appreciate the painted-lane stripes they've done on 85, as well as on 280 and a number of other roads,'' said motorist Richard Johnson of Saratoga. ``Those buttons just aren't sufficient.''

The state began testing thermoplastic last year on sections of Highway 101 and Interstate 280 in the South Bay. They say it's still an experiment. But the way some Caltrans folks talk, it seems more like a done deal.

And, San Jose city engineers say they also want to get away from using Botts Dots.

``They fall out in six months,'' said the city's Bob Gallagher.

Cupertino prefers striping its most heavily traveled roads like De Anza Boulevard. Fremont, however, still likes boppin' to the Botts Dots.

Although drivers can feel a bump as they drive over the dots, some state officials say they are not certain how effective the lane markings were in preventing drivers from drifting into another lane. Higher speeds and faster cars may now cancel out some of that warning benefit.

Thermoplastic has a downside, too. When it needs to be removed, crews must grind off the white stuff. It can get slippery when wet. And, of course, you don't feel any bump, nary a sensation, if you accidentally drift over it.

Before thermoplastic, road workers used paint, which would fade, get dirty even faster and, well, if you drove a state road in the late '50s - few median barriers, oncoming traffic mere feet away - you knew the problem.

Enter Dr. Botts, whose tinkering led to what was then called reflective pavement markers. He wanted something that drivers could easily see at night, in the fog or rain. And he wanted something they could feel their tires bump over, alerting folks when they might be drifting into opposing lanes of traffic.

At first, Botts tried fixing them into the pavement with a steel spike, an

idea that was quashed when the buttons were knocked away, leaving the spike poking into the air - and into tires.

But when one of Botts' former students developed a fast-setting epoxy that molded the dots to virtually any material, the idea spread to other warm-climate states and cities.

Unfortunately, Botts died in 1962, never receiving appreciation or reaping money for his invention.

And, now, his dots are losing respect. They won't be yanked out; instead, they may gradually be replaced.

On some curvy roads, they may remain. The policy now is to lay down the striping on top of the road buttons where needed, something drivers seem to like.