Painted Into Corner, Town Still In Quandary Over Road Lines

The police commission remains undecided as to what to do about the town's single yellow road lines—whether to keep them, nix them, or double them.

There are about 52 narrow roads in town, or 46 miles, that have one yellow stripe painted down their middles. But one yellow line is not a federally recognized street marking, Police Chief John Roche recently learned when looking into making all lines single as a potential cost savings measure.

As the town traffic authority, the commission is responsible for deciding whether to paint two lines down each road—even though some of Ridgefield's roads are too narrow to lose the eight additional inches a second line would cover—to let all single lines fade to black despite their foul-weather use as a driving guide, or to continue using unofficial street markings.

Roche said at last Thursday's commission meeting that he requested, and was denied, an exemption for the lines from the Federal Highway Administration and will ask the opinions of fellow Connecticut police chiefs at a meeting this week before the commission decides what the town should do.

Roche added that Safety Marking, the company that works with the police department to restripe Ridgefield's roads annually, said that most towns in the state use single lines and recommended keeping the practice. Sgt. Mike Gates, who oversees the striping, agrees, Roche reported.

But Commissioner George Kain pointed out it makes sense for a company to endorse continued use of its services, and that the town attorney has recommended discontinuing the practice because single lines could be a liability to the town.

"We're in trouble, because legally we've been told we can't put single lines on the road," Kain said.

Commissioner Susan Craig agreed.

"It's just ignorance is bliss. All those other towns in Connecticut that just don't know or are turning a blind eye" to the regulation doesn't exempt them from it, she said.