Fading road lines a safety concern: councillor

Drivers in Greater Sudbury are having difficulty seeing the painted lines separating lanes on city roadways, says Ward 11 Coun. Lynne Reynolds.

Speaking at operations committee Monday, Reynolds said she's had some close calls herself because she couldn't tell which lane she was in.

"Particularly on The Kingsway,” she said. “It's becoming extremely dangerous ... I, myself, found myself driving through the turning lane the other night. And this morning alone, I received two calls from constituents who experienced the same thing.

"I'm just wondering when we can expect that they will be replaced."
The problem, said roads director Dave Shelsted, is that the province has banned the use of oil-based paint on Ontario roadways.

"Since that is no longer acceptable for use, we have to use a water-based paint product,” Shelsted said. “It does not last as long as the oil-based paint product does."

Particularly with the cold Northern Ontario winters, water-based paints fade much more quickly than oil, especially with the sand and salt used during the cold season that accelerates the fading process.

Despite buying the best water-based paint in the last two years, he said none have lasted in the same way oil paints do.

"The paint industry has recognized there are issues with the paint being produced," Shelsted said. "We have recognized that there are some areas like The Kingsway where there are issues with the paint being able to be seen. We had crews go out and use a different kind of material this winter -- I think it was last week or the week before. That lasted less than 48 hours."

Complicating the problem is water-based paints can't be used unless it warms up, he said.

"It was -21 went I left for work this morning, and using water-based paint at that temperature basically would not be advisable," Shelsted said.

"If we can get some warm (weather), we'll go out and put some temporary dots down. It wouldn't be high-quality work that we would expect to last, but a temporary measure to get us to when we get to the proper working conditions for paint."

There is an epoxy they have used in some areas that does last, he said. It was used at the Lasalle-Notre Dame intersection and has held up well. But it's extremely costly, he said.

"It's significantly more expensive -- orders of magnitude more expensive to do, and it wouldn't be practical to do it for line painting on The Kingsway."

Some communities out West have seen their line-painting budgets double, he said, because of similar rules regarding using oil-based paint. Right now, staff is looking for an alternative paint that's approved by the province but will last longer.

"We're currently researching that, and if we find anything that works well, we'll come back to council."