It's a weather waiting game until the start of this year's round of street line painting.
According to the city's roads and fleet manager, line painting typically begins at the end of May or beginning of June, but could start earlier this year.
That would depend on the availability of the contractor who does the painting as well as Mother Nature, said Flavio Viola.
"Typically right now it's still too cold at night. The temperature has to be a consistent, above plus-five overnight for the paint to actually dry and cure properly," Viola said. "This cold weather wouldn't allow that to happen. Even though the paint would be dry it's not fully cured. So air temperature has a lot to do with it."
If the weather co-operates, line painting generally takes about a month and a half to finish, starting with the main arterial roads and the downtown core.
Line painting is done once per year with a water-based paint. The city used to use an alkyd, or oil-based, traffic paint, but switched over a few years ago after new federal rules kicked in.
In 2010, new Environment Canada regulations aimed at reducing smog-creating emissions produced when certain ingredients in the paint are drying came into effect.
Viola said though the industry has said there isn't a difference between the oil- and water-based paints, they've seen one locally.
"That's why we've tried different things to mitigate that - increasing the thickness of the lines, the amount of paint we're putting down to help it last longer, as well as bringing the contractor back in the fall before it gets too cold to do some of the major roads again," Viola said.
This year, the city has budgeted $206,190 for traffic lane marking, which includes the major line repainting as well as the handwork for crosswalk and stop lines.
When work does begin, Viola asks that drivers keep off the new markings so they have a chance to dry without tread marks.
