The Maine State Department of Transportation says it will not be able to do the same amount of yellow and white road striping this year. A lack of raw materials, known as monomers, is affecting the whole supply chain.
"The monomers are what's in short supply, so therefore that's had an impact on the resin, and the resin isn't getting to our paint suppliers, so the paint suppliers can't make paint to give to us," says Maine DOT engineer Brian Burne.
He says the department has received less than half of the shipments of paint it normally does.
"We have to prioritize in times of short supply, so our current focus is on our higher priority roads," he says.
Those will include the interstate and the most major roads, but Burne cautions that there may not be enough paint to do all of those roads either.
Winter weather disruptions in Texas that affected chemical plants are being blamed for the slow down in paint materials.
