Rain leads to road paint fail

Lines got a little blurred in Dunedin yesterday after a shower of rain started dissolving the work of NZ Transport Agency road-marking contractors.

NZTA coastal Otago maintenance contract manager Nic Rodger said the road markings in Anzac Ave were smeared because it started raining soon after water-based paint was applied.

Some diluted paint ended up in the gutters and stormwater system.

``The transport agency's road-marking team left the site about 3am.

``It appears that turning traffic, combined with the early morning rain, caused the paint to run. Events like this are extremely infrequent and the thin layers of `run paint' are likely to be worn away in the next few days.''

Mr Rodger said the water-based paint was relatively benign and environmentally safer than the old solvent-based paint.

The contractors would wait two days to see if the smeared paint would wear off. If it did not, they would have to return and tidy it up, he said.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz