NE Ohio: Shortage of road stripe paint may be looming

LAKE COUNTY -- A company which helps drivers keep their cars "between the lines," is running short of the special paint used to spray yellow and white lines on highways.

"Traffic paint is one of those things, you don't notice until it's gone. Nobody ever notices a good traffic paint job," says John Milgram, president of Aexcel Corporation in Mentor, a manufacturer of highway traffic paint.

Not being able to find a main ingredient needed to make the paint is something new to Aexcel, which has been in business for decades.

"This is the first time we've had a shortage of the key raw material, which is the acrylic resin," Milgram tells WKYC.

There are a couple reasons the key ingredient is in short supply.

A manufacturing plant in Texas has had production problems, and the Chinese, which also make the ingredient, have stopped shipping it to the U.S., saying they need as much highway paint as they can make, for their own growing needs.

"We ran out our tank our last Thursday," Milgram said. "So we switched to different materials. We're making other things. We're trying to be flexible and adaptable."

While no Ohio road projects have yet been delayed due to the shortage of road striping paint, construction has come to a halt in places like Texas and California, where the shortage is more acute.

Milgram expects delivery of raw materials by mid- or late-June, but says orders are backlogged from the usual two weeks, to as many as 6 to 8 weeks.

The Ohio Department of Transportation will be advising local communities to get their orders for road stripe paint in early.

"We are hopeful that this shortage will be short term," says ODOT spokeswoman Jocelynn Clemings. "In the meantime, this shortage could have an impact on infrequent or new customers, such as local communities."