» ODOT crew re-stripes 38

It’s not permanent, but it’s something.

An Oregon Department of Transportation crew laid a new coat of paint on fog lines on state Highway 38 last Wednesday, according to spokesman Jared Castle.

Castle said a combined maintenance crew from Reedsport and Yoncalla was repainting lines on a section of highway between Dean Creek and Scottsburg after the agency received numerous letters and phone calls, and took note of letters and an article in The Umpqua Post.

Drivers complained about visibility.

“The temporary striping has faded faster than expected,” Castle said.

He said the fog lines crews painted last week also are temporary.

“We’re getting some interim solutions to get some striping out there and eliminate issues,” Castle said.

But he said even the repainted lines could improve road visibility.

“You may not notice a difference if you’re driving that section at daytime, but you’ll notice a significant change if you’re on the road at night,” Castle said. “That’ll hold us until spring or summer, when we can come in and get permanent striping in.”

He said weather along the roadway must be warmer before a local contractor, Laskey-Clifton Corporation, can apply longer-lasting reflective lines.

Castle said Laskey-Clifton was not able to stripe the road with reflective thermoplastic lines commonly seen on Oregon highways because a $4.72 million federal stimulus project awarded in 2009 to the contractor was not completed until last fall.

That project included paving and guardrail work on state Highway 38 and U.S. Highway 101 from Reedsport to the border of Lane and Douglas counties.

But contractors who received stimulus jobs had too much work, Castle said.

“I can definitively say we did twice as much paving work last year as we did (in) previous years,” he said.

He said Laskey-Clifton was no exception.

“Because there was twice as much paving work being done in Southern Oregon, every contractor was running around and doing much more,” he said. “It wasn’t this contractor specifically.”

By fall, Castle explained, the road surface was too cool to apply thermoplastic striping that has an expected lifespan of five to seven years.

Castle said cold temperatures also have hindered crews placing reflective markers to the center of the roadway.

“It’s slow-going because those (reflectors) also require higher temperatures,” he said.

No striping will be placed on the center line until summer. Laskey-Clifton will complete the work on money awarded for the original project, Castle said.

“The contract will remain open until the permanent striping goes down,” he said.

According to ODOT crash statistics, 14 people were killed between January, 2005, and April, 2009, in crashes on Highway 38 between Reedsport and Elkton. Investigators reported vehicles were driving too fast in two wrecks in 2005. Drug use may have contributed to a crash in 2007 and another in 2009.

No one was killed by wrecks on that roadway after the April, 2009 incident.