Elbert Dysart Botts (January 2, 1893 – April 10, 1962) was the

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacrame ...

(''Caltrans'') engineer credited with overseeing the research that led to the development of '' Botts' dots'' and possibly the

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

used to attach them to the road. Botts was born in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in 1893 and was a professor of chemistry at

San Jose State College San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

when he was recruited to Caltrans. He is credited with leading the division of the Caltrans research laboratory (Translab) that conducted the initial research into identifying the best shapes and materials for raised pavement markers. Much of the necessary field research was conducted by his team on a new freeway in

West Sacramento West Sacramento (also known as West Sac) is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. The city is separated from Sacramento by the Sacramento River, which also separates Sacramento and Yolo counties. It is a fast-growing community; the ...

in the spring of 1955. Although the initial goal was to improve lane visibility, it was at this point that the tactile feedback provided by the dots was discovered. At Caltrans, Botts dots were developed as a way to address the problem of paint disappearing when under water. Botts never lived to see the success of his research. He died in April 1962 and his work on the dots was filed away; it was not even mentioned in his obituary in Translab's internal newsletter. Two years later, his research was rediscovered when his division, now under the direction of Herbert Rooney, decided to conduct further research into raised pavement markers. At this time, Translab developed the modern pattern of interspersing plastic square reflectors between groups of four round polyester or epoxy dots. This pattern was first tested along

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

near

Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it th ...

in 1965. To minimize the risk that dots would become coated with rubber scraped off tires, Translab switched to ceramic round markers in 1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botts, Elbert Dysart 20th-century American engineers San Jose State University faculty Engineers from California People from Missouri 1893 births 1962 deaths California Department of Transportation