A contractor removed the pink line from the middle of Broad Street Saturday; below, the stripe as it appeared on June 1. (Above photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

The faded-but-still-pink line running down Broad Street in Red Bank has become a sure sign: Paint the Town Pink was here. A long time ago, even.

The pink traffic line, part of Riverview Medical Center and RiverCenter‘s annual campaign to promote breast cancer awareness, has tended to last well beyond the week of PR-heavy activities within the borough. In fact, much of the the stripe from the 2010 edition was still present when a new one was laid down for this year’s event, which concluded almost six weeks ago.

But responding to criticism from towns that participate in the annual event — Red Bank, Fair Haven and Monmouth Beach — Riverview says it’s de-pinking the roads.

In Red Bank, the line is already gone, and Fair Haven’s is soon to follow.

“They didn’t want it to sit around forever, until next year,” said Tom Paolella, Riverview’s spokesman.

On Saturday, a borough-hired contractor took a machine down Broad and scraped the pink from the downtown’s asphalt, taking some of the adjoining double yellow lines out in the process. Assistant Administrator Gary Watson relayed a message to redbankgreen that restriping on Broad would occur within the next few days.

But that’s borough work, not Riverview’s.

Paolella said the hospital agreed with the three towns that participate in Paint the Town Pink that the pink lines would be painted over by the end of June. This year, Red Bank had a plan in place to restripe Broad anyway.

An employee from Liberty Line Striping, Mark Arnone, donates his services to the hospital to get the work done in those boroughs, Paolella said.

“If it hasn’t been repainted, it will be done in the next few days,” he said.

The stripe’s lingering presence is not that big a deal, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre said. The borough council did have concerns earlier this year when it decided to become ‘Pink Haven‘ that, like Red Bank, the line would stay year-round. But he hasn’t heard any complaints, he said.

“Until it bothers people, I’m not going to worry about it,” Halfacre said. “It’s not a priority. At least our yellow lines are still there.”