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'SL' Road Marking Makes UK Town Say 'OW'
Jurisdictional issues are to blame for a road in one English town that simply warns drivers: “SL.”
Will Chaytor, a resident of Boxford, in Suffolk, recently brought to the nation’s attention the fact that the town’s Sand Hill has road markings that are only half there, due to rules governing what marking work a utility company was permitted to do.
Contractors refused to finish off a "slow" sign in Boxford, Ipswich, because it was "outside the permitted area" https://t.co/e0Blapl3dv pic.twitter.com/mnqk0IJAv2
— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) March 24, 2017
UK Power Networks recently performed work laying underground electrical lines for a new housing development nearby, according to the East Anglian Daily Times. When the work was complete, the utility repainted road markings that its work had affected. But, the company says, it only had Suffolk County Council’s permission to repaint a certain portion of the street.
The result? An area that once said “SLOW,” but had long since faded, said “SL” when the utility was done with its work. Another spot down the street, once marked with a triangle to denote a “give way” (or yield), was marked with a portion of a triangle, looking more like a numeral seven.
Criticism from Residents
Residents accused the county council and the utility of a “lack of joined-up thinking” and a “lack of common sense” in the matter, and have called the whole situation a “farce.”
What’s more, a short time after the “SL” was laid down, the “L,” which appeared on a part of the pavement that had previously existed, had already faded. That left only an “S,” situated over the new patch of asphalt where the cable had been laid.
Council promised to work out the issues: "Regardless of whether we get UK Power Networks to go back and correct that defect, or do it ourselves, we will look to get that sorted," a spokesperson told the Daily Times.
