The temporary remarking of a section of U.S. Highway 264 in Washington to help implement a new traffic pattern is proving successful, according to a N.C. Department of Transportation spokesman.

During his presentation to the Washington City Council on Monday, John Rouse, DOT’s division engineer for its Division 2 (which includes Beaufort County), said the recent pavement remarking has drawn nothing but positive comments.

“What you see out there now is temporary. The final is going to look a lot better once it’s able to be resurfaced this summer during this paving season,” Rouse said. “We’re going to come back with thermo-plastic pavement markings, which are much brighter. It will look a lot better. They’re wider; they’re brighter. They have glass, reflective beads in it so they’re very visible at night.”

Rouse said DOT wanted to use painted markings as it tries the new traffic pattern to see if it will work.

“There were a lot of concerns, arguable so, initially that this was different, it might not work too well. Again, so far, the only comments I’ve had have been very positive,” Rouse said.

In March, Rouse told the council that section of U.S. Highway 264 in Washington likely would be resurfaced later this year.

In March, the City Council unanimously endorsed the plan to resurface the section of U.S. 264 (parts of it known as Fifth Street and John Small Avenue) from Whispering Pines Road to the terminus of East 12^th Street (near the Walgreen’s and CVS pharmacies).

The project converted the four-lane configuration to a three-lane configuration — an eastbound lane, a westbound lane and a center left-turn lane. Rouse said in March the new configuration would make the section of road safer, especially at intersections. He also said the new alignment would not change the width of the road.

The conversion and use of the temporary pavement markings took place in late May.