'A bit embarrassing': Road painted then resealed

This section of North Rd, Dunedin, was sealed on Tuesday, only hours after new lane markings were painted on the road. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
This section of North Rd, Dunedin, was sealed on Tuesday, only hours after new lane markings were painted on the road. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
An oversight that resulted in freshly painted suburban road markings sealed over on the same day was ''a bit embarrassing'', the Dunedin City Council admits.

The new markings were painted on 2.2km of North Rd, in Northeast Valley, on Tuesday, but by evening, 800m of the fresh paint had been covered by seal.

Mike Costelloe, the Otago Southland general manager of Downer, which holds the contracts with the council for road marking in Dunedin and resealing in northern Dunedin, said staff doing the road marking had got part-way through the job before noticing the side of the road was marked for resealing.

The staff stopped at that point, having already completed much of the painting.

The mistake was unusual and he did not expect it to recur as the two teams were aware of each other's schedules and usually ''co-ordinated pretty well''.

''It's just on this occasion there's been a little bit of an oversight.''

Council projects engineer Evan Matheson said recently painted markings had been sealed over previously, although such incidents were rare, but having it happen on the same day was ''a bit embarrassing''.

He said it would cost between $200 and $300 to repaint the section. The cost would have to be covered by Downer, which held the three-year contract, worth $700,000 a year, to paint road markings across the city.

Road marking was done year round. Resealing took place between October and March, with roads to be resealed identified by the council. That information was shared with contractors, who were left to co-ordinate with each other.

The new seal should be marked within the next few days.

- debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz

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