Cordova drivers, watch out for wet paint

DOT painting crew is in town and new paint may stain cars

The city of Cordova and Alaska Department of Transportation want drivers to be aware that new street line paint may stain cars.

A state painting crew is in town to paint the new airport paving projects as well as state and city streets, weather dependent, according to a Sept. 28 statement from the city.

“All motorists should avoid the new wet paint as it will take longer to dry and AKDOT or the City are NOT liable for paint on cars due to motorists driving on wet paint,” the announcement stated.

This announcement comes on the heels of news from earlier this week that yellow painted highway lines in Ketchikan has stained cars.

Among those affected was Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor David Landis, whose car ended up with yellow paint on it.

“You come to expect having highway striping like that to be straight and have orderly looking lines and be professionally applied,” Landis said. “Something was clearly wrong with the equipment or the operation of that equipment to have so many things wrong all at once.”

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The problems emerged after the state DOT tried out a new line painting system on the Tongass Highway, The Ketchikan Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/2fqSsIe ) on Sept. 23.

Department spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said the paint is “not drying as quickly as it should due to humidity in southeast Alaska.”

Ketchikan City Counilman Bob Sivertson called it the poorest line painting work he’s seen.

Bailey said the state will not repaint the yellow lines.

She said people with cars that got paint on them should have the vehicles pressure washed.

If the car washes don’t work, she recommended spraying WD-40 lubricant on areas stained with yellow paint. The lubricant should be left on cars for up to two hours before washing them.

And if that does not work, she said, they should put a “liberal coating of Vaseline” on the car areas stained yellow. It should be left on the cars overnight before getting the vehicles pressure washed, Bailey said.

Detour ahead

The City of Cordova Public Works Streets Division will be working with Pruhs Construction Co. to repair the pavement at the corner of Railroad and Breakwater Avenues. Work begins today, Sept. 28 in the morning to prepare the area.

This corner will be marked and closed until paving is complete, weather dependent according to the Cordova city newsletter.

Traffic will be detoured around this work area for several days until the new pavement is cooled and cured.

“Thank you for your patience and the city apologizes for any inconvenience,” newsletter said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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