New highway lines in Clark County wash away in rain

Rain washed away seven miles' worth of fresh highway paint in north Clark County last week.

The Columbian

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Rain washed away seven miles' worth of fresh highway paint in north Clark County last week.

The incident occurred Wednesday, after a crew of six state transportation workers had spent much of the day carefully restriping the centerline and fog lines on seven miles of Highway 503 between Lewisville Park and Amboy. They paused as a soft rain began falling in the afternoon.

Workers were using a new water-based paint designed to work in cold weather, but on Wednesday the rain revealed it was a bad batch.

Motorists called the state Department of Transportation (DOT) office in Vancouver to report that all the fresh paint was swiftly going the way of a first-grader's watercolor — including areas painted hours before.

Dan Gruenberg, maintenance supervisor for the DOT in Vancouver, said the paint manufacturer, whom he would not identify, agreed to swap out an entire truckload — 2,940 gallons — included in the batch.

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Comments (18)

The state should file a claim with the paint mfg. to recover the labor costs of repainting those lines as well. The paint wasn't the only... Posted on May 18, 2009 at 6:31 AM by zoomer52. Jump to comment

what Einstein came up with the notion of using water-based paint in an application where it's gonna be wet 7 or 8 months out of the year?... Posted on May 18, 2009 at 6:46 AM by squirl033. Jump to comment

And why can't he name the paint mfg. Shouldn't that be public knowledge since it is a public project. Unless of course he's... Posted on May 18, 2009 at 7:45 AM by itsallajoke. Jump to comment

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