Cape Breton councillor calls for better paint on highways, roads

Jason Dawe does a lot of driving and lately he’s noticed fading paint on roads and highways in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM).

"You don't know if you're over far enough. You don't know if you're in the right lane,” Dawe said.

CBRM councillor Gordon MacDonald put forth a motion on Tuesday to ask the Nova Scotia government to come up with a better highway paint solution.

He feels the paint being used doesn't last long enough.

"They put it on, and in a month or two it's faded and within two-to-three months it's gone,” MacDonald said. "Travelling on a highway with no lines on a dark evening, it's a very dangerous situation."

In an email to CTV Atlantic, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia’s Department of Public Works said Highway 125 in Cape Breton has been newly repainted and Highway 105 is complete to Victoria County.

The emailed statement added the rest of the 105 - plus the Sydney-Glace Bay Highway - will be complete in the next couple of weeks.

Public Works noted the paint used must adhere to Environment Canada's regulations.

"If it rains, within two or three days those lines have been faded by that rain because it's water paint,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald had his own near-miss recently when he almost hit a median because he couldn't see highway lines after dark.

Others agree with his suggestion that more environmentally-friendly paint doesn't make sense to use on tar highways.

"Whatever they're using is not lasting, because next year they're just wasting taxpayers' money to do it all over again,” Dawe said.

MacDonald's motion for the province to do something to make road markings more clear was unanimously approved by council.

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