Nighttime road striping plans aired

AUGUSTA – Nighttime drivers using portions of U.S. Route 1, I-95 or I-295 in southern Maine as well as I-95 and I-395 in Bangor should use some extra care and caution for the next few weeks as Maine DOT crews will be out night striping on those sections of the state highway system.

“We need to repaint the pavement markings, or traffic striping, on several divided highways in southern Maine and Bangor, and, because of the traffic volumes, the safest, most efficient time for us to do it is at night,” said Wayne Arsenault of the Maine DOT traffic engineering section in Augusta in a press release.

“We’ve scheduled the work to begin Sunday night, July 27, and plan to finish by Aug. 8 if the weather cooperates. This will be the fourth year we’ve done the work at night and it seems to work out well for both the department and the public.”

Arsenault said nighttime striping is scheduled for the divided highway portion of U.S. Route 1 in Brunswick and Bath: I-295, and its access ramps, between Brunswick and South Portland; U.S. Route 1 in Kittery; and I-95 between Hampden and Stillwater.

“We will start first in the Brunswick area, and then will move to the Bangor area and work our way south,” Arsenault said. “Depending on the weather, we’ll be working somewhere on those major routes on any given night, so motorists need to be alert to the possibility they’ll encounter one of our striping crews on those routes.”

Crews will begin striping at 10 each night, Sunday through Thursday, and finish by 7 a.m. the next day in order to reduce the impact on daytime traffic volumes. Crews will be off the road by 7 a.m. Friday and will not return until after 10 Sunday nights to avoid weekend traffic. State police will assist with traffic control at each location.

The DOT will use electronic message boards to alert drivers each night of where striping will occur.

“It’s difficult to provide a complete schedule this far in advance because so much depends on the weather at any given location. However, if it starts to rain in Brunswick, and it’s clear in Kittery, we’ll skip down there for the night, and then come back north when the weather breaks,” Arsenault said.

Drivers needing an up-to-date advisory should check the DOT’s 511 Travel Advisory Web site at http://www.511maine.com/.

Arsenault said drivers still will be able to use any of the routes during striping operations, but urged them to do so with extra caution.

“Although we use fast-drying, water-borne paint, some drivers invariably end up getting fresh white or yellow paint on their vehicles,” he said. “The real key to avoid getting paint on your car or truck is using common sense around the striper trucks. It’s amazing to hear our equipment operators talk about drivers who won’t stay back a safe following distance behind our paint applicators, or who insist on crossing a freshly-painted line, or who recklessly pull out and pass our moving striping operation. When they do any of those things, chances are good they’re going to splash wet paint onto their vehicles from the newly striped line.”

For those do end up driving through fresh paint, there is a time period during which you can remove the paint.

“If you get any of our paint on your vehicle the sooner you wash it off the easier it will be to remove it. After three or four hours of drying the paint will be harder to remove so don’t wait. Of course, the best bet is to stay off the wet paint until it dries,” Arsenault said.

For more information contact Wayne Arsenault, traffic operations superintendent, at 624-3626.