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PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Both old and new striping on the same stretch of Interstate 15 between Lehi and Orem is confusing drivers, who are complaining to the Utah Department of Transportation.
"We've been receiving complaints on a consistent basis for several weeks, and the contractor has removed some of the temporary striping," said UDOT spokesman Geoffrey Dupaix. "It's just a very slow process."
Janene Weiss, who commutes daily from Lehi to Provo, said, "It is so confusing. They tried to erase one set, but clearly that didn't work. I've had a couple of near misses when people are following in the wrong sets."
If the conflicting lines haven't caused any accidents, "it's because people are aware of it and driving more defensively," she said.
Contractors initially painted a new set of lines in June to direct traffic farther away from the median and allow them more room to work. They covered the original stripes with gray paint, and that seemed sufficient for a few months.
"This really wasn't an issue all summer," Dupaix said. "Now the sun is lower on the horizon and causing a lot of glare."
Since the complaints started pouring in around early October, contractors began working overnight to sandblast the excess stripes.
Dupaix asked drivers to be patient and said the lanes soon will be clearly indicated again.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
