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MI Town Upset Over Curved Road Lines
Residents in Hartford, Michigan, are reportedly upset with the results of a recent road lining effort, which left one of the town’s roads with curved lane markers.
According to a report from WWMT, Interim City Manager Linnea Rader is now planning to meet with the painting contractor to decide on the proper corrective action.
“The street striping that was completed this weekend has been a hot topic around the city. Neither the residents nor the city are happy with the results,” an announcement on the City of Hartford’s Facebook page said.
It’s a “hot topic” in the City of Hartford - Residents are not happy with a road painting job.
— News Channel 3 WWMT-TV (@wwmtnews) November 7, 2023
FULL STORY: https://t.co/wAynUNhhQU pic.twitter.com/Vq9fR32y5N
“In the meantime, rest assured the city will not be paying for work they are dissatisfied with. Thank you all for your patience while we address the situation.”
While many residents were upset over the mistake, some took to Facebook to voice a milder point of view.
“Honestly I'm surprised more roads don't look like that. Given the uneven, bumpy, bad pothole patches and sunken manhole covers on every road ... there isn't a road anywhere that is easy to paint lines straight,” user Scott Perin commented on a Facebook post from WWMT on the incident.
Still, many users found humor in the situation, as commenter Jim Rydleski stated: “It looks like the painter was just avoiding all the cracks in the road.”
Similar News
Similarly, in August, road crews in Memphis reportedly painted a line right over a dead raccoon while working on pavement markings.
According to reports, a witness stated that he first saw the dead animal lying on Getwell Road in Memphis and had to do a double take before getting out of his car to take a picture and post it to Facebook.
“I hadn’t taken Getwell in a few weeks,” Richie EsQuival told WREG Memphis. “I guess my first thought was it’s kinda wild. Not something you see every day.
“The animal was maybe there for a few days by the looks of it. It’s pretty big and hard to miss.”
The striping was reportedly done along the outer northbound lane of Getwell, near Knight Arnold Road. EsQuival added that the paint was “pretty fresh.”
WREG Memphis stated that they had asked spokesperson for the City of Memphis how this might have happened, though were only told the city’s Solid Waste dead animal pick up and removal would be removing the deceased raccoon from that location on the morning of Aug. 4.
Also, in December of last year, a 700-foot-long stretch of decommissioned road in Ontario, Canada, looked like an “unintentional piece of public art” thanks to its unusual application of white and yellow street markings. The Pleasantville Curve, which appeared to be a “road to nowhere,” was actually a test deck for pavement markings, giving it its abstract look.
Acting as a practice spot for road painters, the roadway worked like a test easel for both workers and the paint itself. Traditionally, these test decks are reportedly deployed by transportation planners to assess the durability and visibility of commercial highway paint.
Long-line test decks can also be installed in the same location and direction as standard pavement markings, allowing them to be placed under typical circumstances and normal traffic conditions. This reportedly gave realistic installation and wear conditions regarding the markings.
If the paint can withstand tire friction and snow plow blades for two years, it is reportedly deemed up to code.
However, the Pleasantville Curve—and the nearby Bogarttown Curve—lacked the parallel lines and scientific layout of those test deck methods. Instead, images showed stripes of white and yellow lines and dashes that looked almost abstract.
Reported to be originally built in the mid-20th century to bypass the nearby Vivian Road and Woodbine Avenue intersection, the road was later decommissioned in the 1990s and the northern end of the curve was removed.
