JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The snow has melted and the ice is gone - and so have the markings on the road. Anyone who has been stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson after a spring breakup knows what is coming next…the paint truck and the paint crew.
In rare circumstances JBER motorists may find themselves trapped behind a slow-moving paint truck for part of their commute. Although the paint striping truck may seem like a $500,000 obstacle between point A and point B, the team that operates it is anything but; they're people trying to create a safe road system for you and your family.
"We will come in and do the center lines on the roads, and then return and do the dashed lines," said Jon Murdock, supervisor for the 773d Civil Engineer Squadron paint shop. "Then follow up with the fog lines and crosswalks while prioritizing the school crosswalks. Then we do the intersections and directional arrows."
The team has 15,500 gallons of paint to put down and the process can take all summer. Commuters should plan accordingly when leaving for work in case their commute is affected.
Often, when faced with a working vehicle on the road, one might be inclined to look for an opportunity to pass, but in this case, that could be a costly mistake.
With the exception of emergency vehicles, nobody is authorized to pass the paint truck while in operation. Motorists should slow down when approaching and driving near road and painting crews. Driving at high speeds or becoming impatient can create a very dangerous situation for those working on the roads.
Behind the paint truck, there will be another vehicle placing flags or cones to indicate where paint is wet and should not be crossed.
"The cones are not placed on every wet stripe," Murdock said. "So going between the cones doesn't mean you're not crossing wet paint."
Additionally, driving over wet paint can cause unsightly damage to a vehicle, transfer paint to areas of the road where it should not be, and ultimately create more work and longer wait times for traffic as the crew has to remove and re-paint damaged lines.
Then there's the bigger risk: by passing the striping truck, motorists are endangering the lives of the paint team.
Getting paint on a car is not good, but getting somebody hurt, that's unacceptable.