Road paint shortage forces city crews to prioritize

Not sure you're in the right lane? Maybe you can blame the global economy.

“We ordered paint three weeks ago,” said Craig Hanson, Cedar Rapids' public works maintenance manager. “We haven't received it yet.”

The city's supplier hasn't answered Hanson's queries, but a shortage of key ingredients is being felt nationwide as streets and highways go without their annual freshening.

“The shortage has resulted in unprecedented delays and increased costs in the production of these products,” according to Iowa Department of Transportation spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher.

Gray-Fisher said IDOT is prioritizing its annual maintenance routine, which usually sees crews paint the centerlines of all 9,400 miles on the state's primary road system. IDOT crews also paint the markings on runways and taxiways of publicly-owned airports.

“They're suggesting we may have to be flexible,” said Steve Gannon, Linn County engineer.

In Cedar Rapids, crews are using paint left from last year to renew the arrows in turn lanes and the lines that indicate where motorists should stop at stoplights – the jobs that take the least paint but the most time.

If the shortage continues, “we will review what we will paint as we go through the summer,” said Hanson. “We also are waiting on the temperature – we normally paint the long lines during the heat of the summer,” which makes for better drying.

Hanson said the city uses about 4,000 gallons each of red and yellow paint each year.

In Iowa City, “we're in good shape,” said John Sobaski, assistant streets superintendent. “We got our bid in early.”

Sobaski said the Iowa City received its full order of 1,275 gallons.

Johnson County typically lets contracts for pavement painting in the fall, said County Engineer Greg Parker.

“For the projects we have going on right now I have not heard from any of the contractors that that's a concern,” said Parker.

Gray-Fisher said the shortage is caused by decreased supplies of titanium dioxide, the pigments used in all white and yellow highway paints, and methyl methacrylate (MMA), a component in acrylic resin used to make paint.

Chemical manufacturers cut back their MMA production due to the recession and weren't prepared for a surge in orders, fueled partly by federal stimulus projects. And China, which supplied low-cost titanium dioxide, has diverted its production to domestic users.

Linn County owns its own sprayers and uses an epoxy paint that's so far unaffected by the shortage, Gannon said. He said the county may have to step in for contractors unable to obtain paint needed for projects on Prairie Hills road near Prairieburg and at a bridge replacement on County Home Road.

Parker said markings painted with acrylic-based paint last 5 to 7 years, depending on traffic and weather. There are also water-based paints that aren't as durable.