If you are having trouble determining which lane to stay in relief should come soon.

The Town of Cochrane road crew will be touching up all the lines in the municipality once weather is cooperative. Chad Gibbons, Town of Cochrane, Roads Operator says this past winter has not been kind to road paint.

"We do two applications a year, in the spring as soon as all that chip and stuff from the winter is off the road we schedule the first application and then we do a second application later in the fall so it thickens the paint up a little bit more for the winter. As they apply it there is a glass bead comes out with the wet paint that will make it reflective but after a bit of traffic and after winter that effectiveness disappears in those heavy traffic areas."

There is no skimping on paint, says Gibbons, in fact they cover a lot of distance.

"I think it is somewhere between 35,000-45,000 metres, so every year every line is done."

The paint they use is according to Alberta Transportation specs and the same type used in many line painting projects. Unfortunately, with all the chip laid down it has deteriorated the lines quite badly this year. says Gibbons.

"This year we have had to use a lot more chip on the roads than sand, so that does not help the lines at all. When we get this cold weather and we have to use a lot more chip and that chip sitting on the roads and people driving over those lines, it just eats away the paint. It just really doesn't stand a chance no matter what kind of paint your using."

Once streets have been cleaned you will wake up to fresh lines as line painting is done generally over the course of one night.

"It is done by a truck and there are two guns. Past ten years or so we have used LaFrance and there are two operators that sit on the back of the truck and if everything goes smoothly and no problems with equipment, we start around 10 o' clock at night and we can usually get the whole town done in about 12 hours."

As the town grows Gibbons anticipates line painting may be done over a couple nights.