A national resin shortage is limiting the Maine Department of Transportation's road striping operations this year, according to MDOT, in a news release.

“The February winter storm that left Texas without power for several days has dramatically hindered resin production in that state's petrochemical plants,” said the release.

MaineDOT has been working with our suppliers of latex-based paint, but the department is receiving far less paint than expected because the resin used to manufacture the paint continues to be in short supply.

“We currently have less than half the amount of white and yellow paint we had at this point last year,” said MDOT.

This situation is limiting the amount of road striping and stenciling MaineDOT is able to do this year.

“We are using the paint we do have on interstates, high-priority highways, and new roads,” said MDOT. :Many lower-priority roads will not be restriped this year. Fortunately, the mild winter resulted in less plowing.”

Reduced contact between plow blades and roads minimizes the wear and tear that causes the paint on roads to fade.

"This is a unique challenge, and there's no way of knowing when our paint supplies are going to return to normal levels," said MaineDOT Highway Maintenance Engineer Brian Burne. "We want to make sure members of the traveling public are aware of this situation and understand why some Maine roads will not receive new paint this year."