Several roads have been repainted or repaired around Carbondale and on campus this summer and the work is continuing.

Carbondale City Manager Kevin Baity said the repainting of city road stripes happens on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer. However, the repainting is sometimes cancelled due to weather or busy weekends at the university, he said. The road painting was cancelled last week because of move-in weekend; the city also tries to avoid sporting event weekends, he said.

The roads are repainted every year and are funded two different ways, Baity said. One is through the State Allocations Motor Fuel Tax, which is a state tax on gas and diesel and is proportioned by population and the number of street lane miles, he said.

The second funding source comes from the city of Carbondale’s Local Improvement Fund, a municipal tax that comes from motor fuels. However, occasionally not all of the improvement funds will be used for one year in order to do a larger project the next year, he said.

While the stripes were repainted, the large, white paw prints on the roads leading to campus received updates courtesy of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director Les O’Dell said it is all volunteer work of their Saluki Pride Committee.

“It’s made up of individuals and businesses that want to reach out and strengthen the ties between the University and the community,” O’Dell said.

The painting of the prints took place on two different Sundays this year in the early morning. Both Sundays there were 16 volunteers, divided into four groups, O’Dell said. The groups use a stencil of the paw print and are followed by a vehicle to ensure the safety of the volunteers, as well as allow the paint time to dry. The paint used for the paw prints is the same type of paint used for striping roads, and it takes around five minutes to dry, O’Dell said.

With construction taking place throughout the summer and into the beginning weeks of the fall semester, SIU students were affected by the changes as well.

Bonnie Nordquist, a senior from Glendale Heights studying hospitality and tourism administration, said the repainting of the stripes and paw prints did not bother her. The only

road construction that affected her was that on campus near the Student Center.

“I have a lot of stuff going on at the student center and it was a hassle to get there,” she said.