CABOT, Ark.(KTHV) - New pavement and temporary lane markings at a busy Cabot intersection left many drivers scratching their heads early this week.
It also created a headache for teachers looking to drop their children off at school.
Viewers reached out to us about the confusion at the intersection of highways 89 and 367 in Cabot. The Mayor also voiced his concerns to the The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Those complaints were heard and we were there as crews showed up to fix the problem.
The project was meant to improve a busy intersection, but during the fix it ended up causing a major safety concern according to drivers like James Casto.
“Two or three days ago there were just little bitty pegs out there, little yellow pegs, we weren't sure, so we went ahead and stayed over there and didn't turn," he said.
Casto wasn’t the only driver in Cabot who was left confused when the highway department recently repaved Highway 367.
"What I saw was somebody who was on the other side of the yellow line. They should have been on the other side, they were left of center," said Mark Headley with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Headley said when crews placed temporary tape down to guide traffic, they accidently eliminated the primary left turn lane.
"Those markings, those center line markings went right down the middle of the roadway," he said. "What was out here before and what is out here now there's an offset in the center line that allows for an additional left turn lane. Temporarily there was no left turn lane striped on the pavement."
Casto said drivers were confused by traffic signals and overhead signs indicating the lane was still there despite tape on the pavement that indicated it wasn't.
"Originally, for years this was a turn lane and here in about the last week and a half they changed it all of a sudden," Casto said. "Old Cabot always turned there, so they just kept lining up to turn. Now, that there's double lines there everyone is going about doing the right thing."
On Wednesday, highway crews returned to the intersection with paint to correct what was mistakenly left out.
"Those interim pavement markings that were made out of temporary tape were removed and we now had the contractor place reflective paint down in the locations before the job started," Headley said.