Abstract: A pavement marker for roadway surface including a housing 12 having a lower base portion 14 and at least one wall 18 extending substantially upwardly from the base portion 14. A retro-reflective lens 20 is mounted on the wall 18 and has a front surface 22 facing away from the wall 18. A photopolymerizable clear acrylic protective hard coat is deposited over the front face of the lens for resisting abrasion of the lens and reducing the loss of optical efficiency resulting from such abrasion.A method of making the pavement marker includes the steps of forming the lens 20 having the front face 22, coating the front face 22 of the lens 20 with a photopolymerizable acrylic composition, irradiating the coating with ultraviolet or electron beam irradiation to cure the acrylic composition to an abrasion resistant coating 24, and mounting the lens 20 in the housing 12 to dispose the coated front face 22 away from the housing 12.