County pavement marking to begin next week

The Crow Wing County Highway Department anticipates its annual pavement marking work to begin Monday.

The highway department contracts for about 3 million linear feet of pavement markings to be repainted annually. How often white edge lines and yellow centerlines are repainted is determined by traffic volumes on the various roadways, and can range from one to three years.

Painting is typically performed in the late spring to address markings that have deteriorated due to snow and ice removal operations, and to ensure that the markings are most visible as the higher volume summer season approaches.

Drivers should be aware of fresh paint on the roadways through the use of signs, cones and news releases, a news release stated.

"Removing roadway paint from a vehicle is a difficult and costly undertaking that can be avoided for the most part, so always avoid driving over pavement markings that are known to be new," the release stated.

In addition, the paint trucks travel at a very low speed and drivers should give them plenty of room and be ready for the truck to have sudden changes in speed and be moving in and out of travel lanes as turn lanes are painted.