A Raleigh comedian pulled his car over after noticing the double yellow lines on South State Street getting more and more crooked the further he drove, and the video he shot on his phone has now pushed the city to fix the road. Jordan Huggins said he was driving home on South State Street when he spotted the unusual markings and decided to stop because there wasn't much traffic around. What he filmed next — a stretch of double yellow lines wobbling like a drawn-on squiggle instead of running straight down the pavement — quickly spread across TikTok and Instagram.
Huggins posted the video and said he started getting messages from people on both platforms almost immediately, according to ABC11 News. The City of Raleigh noticed the viral clip, located the problem stretch of road, and said it is now investigating why the contractor left the markings in that condition, per a city spokesperson cited by the station. Huggins is a local comedian known on social media as @AkaYoungBeefy, and he has said he frequently witnessed fender benders on that same stretch of South State Street even before he filmed the crooked lines, according to CBS 17.
A Street Already Mid-Overhaul
The squiggly centerlines weren't painted on an ordinary stretch of road. They landed on a section of South State Street that had just been narrowed to make room for new traffic-calming features, including a stop sign and a designated bike lane, per the same account from Durham News. That narrowing effort is part of the city's broader FY24 Traffic Calming, Neighborhood Bikeway and South State Street Cycle Track project, a contract Raleigh City Council awarded to Lanier Construction Company, Inc. in June 2025, according to Livable Raleigh.
South State Street isn't just any residential cut-through. It functions as a key neighborhood connector linking residents to Ligon Middle School, Carnage Middle School, Fuller Elementary School, the Walnut Creek Wetland Center and the Walnut Creek Greenway Trail, according to Connect NCDOT. That mix of schools, greenways and daily foot and bike traffic is part of why a wobbly centerline in that particular corridor drew so much attention once it hit social media.
The street has also been a repeat testing ground for the city's traffic engineers. Back in October 2020, Raleigh installed modular speed cushions on South State Street as a pilot traffic-calming measure, according to the City of Raleigh, making this the latest chapter in a multi-year effort to slow drivers down on the corridor.
City Promises A Quick Restripe
Following the attention generated by the viral video in early August, Raleigh officials confirmed that crews would correct and re-stripe the double yellow lines on South State Street within the week, while the city continues investigating contractor fault, Durham News reports. It remains unresolved whether the irregular lines resulted from contractor error, equipment trouble while navigating the newly narrowed curb line and speed cushions, or some misapplied attempt at traffic calming — the city has not said which.
Federal standards leave little room for interpretation on markings like these. The Federal Highway Administration's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices requires that yellow centerline pavement markings be uniform, continuous and clearly defined so drivers can maintain predictable lane discipline, according to a Virginia Department of Transportation study guide. Contractors working on municipal projects in Raleigh are also bound by North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 87, which requires valid state licensure and adherence to strict municipal and state engineering specifications, per HigherGov's review of the contract terms. Separately, city procurement guidelines for projects over $300,000 encourage prime contractors to steer at least 15% of contract value to certified Minority and Woman-Owned Business Enterprises, per the same HigherGov filing.
Raleigh's case echoes a pattern seen elsewhere: erratic construction-zone striping has a track record of rattling drivers well beyond city limits. In South Salt Lake, Utah, temporary corridor striping led to wrong-way driving complaints earlier this summer, underscoring how quickly misaligned lane markings can turn into safety hazards in residential neighborhoods. For now, South State Street residents are simply waiting to see the double yellow line run straight again.
