Bad intersection paint job is repaired
In a photo taken Monday, workers are repainting the left turn lane at the intersection of Fourth and West Washington streets. (Journal photo by Bud Sargent)
This photo was taken about one week ago. It clearly shows there are no left turn lanes painted on Fourth Street turning left onto West Washington Street in downtown Marquette. (Journal photo by Bud Sargent)
In a photo taken Monday, workers are repainting the left turn lane at the intersection of Fourth and West Washington streets. (Journal photo by Bud Sargent)
This photo was taken about one week ago. It clearly shows there are no left turn lanes painted on Fourth Street turning left onto West Washington Street in downtown Marquette. (Journal photo by Bud Sargent)
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MARQUETTE -- Casual passersby might simply call it an oops but Marquette city officials were something less than happy with the paint job on a busy city intersection that followed a major road project downtown.
The intersection at issue is Fourth and West Washington streets, and the errant painting was the designation of a left turn lane from the northbound Fourth Street onto West Washington Street.
"The original plans were fine," said Mik Kilpena, Marquette city engineer. "They just didn't follow them."
The roadwork was overseen by general contractor Payne and Dolan off Gladstone, a well-regarded company familiar to many Upper Peninsula residents. This particular phase of the work, in the past 4-5 weeks, was substantial and included laying a new surface on Fourth Street.
Payne and Dolan used sub-contractor P.K. Contracting out of downstate Lake City, Kilpela said. P.K. is a state-wide company with a solid reputation.
City officials noticed the flub immediately, Kilpela said. So did a number of residents who called to voice concerns. Fortunately, there were no accidents in the meantime.
P.K. used something called tracer paint, Kilpela said. This week, P.K. workers are grinding off the paint and repainting the traffic and turn lanes.
The new work won't cost the city additional funds, he said. The sub-contractor "is going to eat it. Somehow an error was made. It's being fixed."