This Alaskan Highway's Yellow Lines Are Crooked And Can Stain Your Vehicle

KETCHIKAN, AK — Ketchikan drivers beware: New yellow painted highway lines are not only crooked, they'll stain your vehicle. To boot, a car wash might not be enough to completely remove the stain — you might have to use WD-40 lubricant or a "liberal coating of Vaseline" to get it off, officials said.

Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor David Landis was among those whose car ended up with yellow paint on it.

"You come to expect having highway striping like that to be straight and have orderly looking lines and be professionally applied," he said. "Something was clearly wrong with the equipment or the operation of that equipment to have so many things wrong all at once." (For more information on Ketchikan's crooked yellow lines and other Alaska stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The problems surfaced after the state Department of Transportation tried out a new line painting system on the Tongass Highway, the Ketchikan Daily News reported Saturday. The paint is "not drying as quickly as it should due to humidity in southeast Alaska," department spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said.

Bob Sivertson, a Ketchikan city council member, called it the poorest line painting work he's seen.

Bailey said the state will not repaint the yellow lines. She said people with cars that got paint on them should have the vehicles pressure washed.

If the car washes don't work, she recommended spraying WD-40 lubricant on areas stained with yellow paint. The lubricant should be left on cars for up to two hours before washing them.

And if that does not work, she said, they should put a "liberal coating of Vaseline" on the car areas stained yellow. It should be left on the cars overnight before getting the vehicles pressure washed, Bailey said.

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