A crew from Alert Traffic Lines painted a vivid blue line along Broad Street in downtown Red Bank Friday in support of local law enforcement. The borough-based company, owned by John and Michael Garofalo, paid for the project, which the borough council authorized by resolution in December.
The line was laid between existing double yellow lines in spite of objections voiced elsewhere by the federal Department of Transportation that they’re unsafe because the pavement between the yellow lines is not visible. Councilman and Police Commissioner Mike Whelan told redbankgreen in a statement that he and Chief Darren McConnell disagree with the DOT.
From Whelan:
The issue of whether the line meets Federal standards or is distracting in any way does not seem like a valid issue in our opinion. Those who are concerned with the legality of the line are basing that opinion on language in the federal standards that require the road surface to be visible in between a double yellow line. The purpose of that is to make it clear that there is in fact a double yellow line indicating that a roadway is a no-passing Zone. By placing a blue line in between the properly painted yellow lines is not in our opinion diminishing in any way the fact that the double yellow line still clearly indicates that this is a no passing zone. We did not feel that the blue line is distracting nor is it outside of the spirit of what is written in the federal guidelines. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
