Public Works Director Fred Hurley met this week with Police Commission members to discuss the paint-striping of certain town roads, a feature that is considered to improve travel safety on roadways located on varied terrain, especially during the nighttime and in low-visibility conditions.

Mr Hurley told Police Commission members January 7 that the town has painted double-yellow center lines on some major town-owned roads, but much painting remains to be done. The use of double-yellow center lines is the painting scheme specified by traffic engineers, if those roads are to have striping.

Scott Cicciari, a Police Commission member who heads the panel’s committee on road striping, said the town should move away from its former practice of painting a single stripe in the center of a roadway and employ double stripes instead.

“It’s a double-yellow line or no line,” Mr Hurley responded. “We won’t do more single-lining,” he added.

Mr Hurley, however, pointed out that for the sake of durability, the town needs to use an epoxy paint for its road striping. Using paint that does not contain epoxy means that the paint will quickly wear away, he said. Epoxy paint, however, is expensive compared to conventional paint, he noted.

On January 8, Mr Hurley said it could take several years before all town-owned roads planned to receive double-yellow center lines are paint-striped.

Town roads which have already received double-yellow center lines in certain sections or along their full lengths include Toddy Hill Road, Botsford Hill Road, Currituck Road, Poverty Hollow Road, Brushy Hill Road, Huntingtown Road, and Meadowbrook Road.

Roads slated to receive such striping include: Queen Street, Glover Avenue, Hanover Road, Hattertown Road, Key Rock Road, Elm Drive, Boggs Hill Road, Walnut Tree Hill Road, The Boulevard, Riverside Road, Schoolhouse Hill Road, Philo Curtis Road, Grays Plain Road, Old Hawleyville Road, Great Ring Road, New Lebbon Road, Narragansett Trail, High Rock Road, High Bridge Road, Castle Hill Road, Taunton Hill Road, Bennetts Bridge Road, and Castle Meadow Road.