The city is now looking for someone to paint the length of about 1,250 football fields worth of traffic lines. Canadian football fields, that is. Or the equivalent distance of two round trips to Sicamous.
The City of Salmon Arm has issued a request for proposals for a three-year contract, primarily the centre and shoulder lines on city roads.
The combined major items total more than 125,000 meters and include, in order of size: 72,000 meters of single solid yellow lines; 40,000 meters of solid white, lane dividers and road shoulders; and varying lengths of single solid, intermittent yellow and intermittent white lines.
Yellow lines separate traffic traveling in opposite directions, while the white lines mark the separation of traffic flowing in the same direction. Keeping to the straight and narrow will undoubtedly be appreciated.
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Past contracts to perform the work have been in the range of $42,000 per year, says Rob Niewenhuizen, the city’s director of engineering and public works. This also includes line painting at the Shuswap Regional Airport.
The line paint typically lasts about a year, he says, so the successful contractor will be responsible for re-painting a set amount of lines each year.
As for crosswalks, parking T’s and other markers, city staff paint those. The city will start those in April, if not before.
If you weren’t a fan of the city’s brick crosswalks, most of them have been removed in conjunction with other paving projects. The few remaining will go over the next few years.
The city’s total annual budget for both the road markings and the crosswalks is $108,000.
It will be a busy spring for the successful bidder, as the city work will start after April 15 and be complete by May 31. The airport marking deadline is June 15.
marthawickett@saobserver.net
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