Narrative:

Weather in dca was two miles visibility with rain and 300 overcast. It was night. This is a general safety concern about the taxiway markings and signage on the ground in dca and around the gate area. The taxiway markings are horrible at night; and when you throw in rain to wash out any discernible taxi markings; there might as well be no markings at all. In rain conditions at night you can barely make out the center taxi line using your taxi lights. A few times I had to use my landing lights to see any of the markings at all. As we traveled on taxiway K to the terminal; any lines on the taxiway seemed to disappear in the rain. You could make out blue reflectors on the centerline; but they did not reflect any of my taxi light. Upon entering the ramp area; with multiple vehicles moving around; and parked aircraft; all pretense of safety marking seemed to follow the rain; right down the drain. You could see none of the markings that defined a safety zone; parking spots; or the centerline of the parking spot. It was only because of good communication with my first officer that we were able to figure it all out; and arrive safely at the gate with no damage to the aircraft; or a taxiway incursion.both company and FAA need to fix this; not only at dca but at many of the airports in our system. This was a night event with rain and no snow. I should be able to see the safety markings while taxiing.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported that taxiway markings; signage; and markings associated with parking spots at DCA are difficult to see at night during rainy conditions.

Narrative: Weather in DCA was two miles visibility with rain and 300 overcast. It was night. This is a general Safety concern about the taxiway markings and signage on the ground in DCA and around the gate area. The taxiway markings are horrible at night; and when you throw in rain to wash out any discernible taxi markings; there might as well be no markings at all. In rain conditions at night you can barely make out the center taxi line using your taxi lights. A few times I had to use my landing lights to see any of the markings at all. As we traveled on Taxiway K to the terminal; any lines on the taxiway seemed to disappear in the rain. You could make out blue reflectors on the centerline; but they did not reflect any of my taxi light. Upon entering the ramp area; with multiple vehicles moving around; and parked aircraft; all pretense of safety marking seemed to follow the rain; right down the drain. You could see none of the markings that defined a Safety Zone; parking spots; or the centerline of the parking spot. It was only because of good communication with my FO that we were able to figure it all out; and arrive safely at the gate with no damage to the aircraft; or a taxiway incursion.Both Company and FAA need to fix this; not only at DCA but at many of the airports in our system. This was a night event with rain and no snow. I should be able to see the Safety markings while taxiing.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.