Figured I’d post about my paying job for a minute. I’m sure you’ve all seen these markings on either sidewalks or raodways and wondered WTF are these? They are often seen in different colors but the more prominant ones are; Red, Yellow, Blue, Green and often inside a marked area in White. The paint itself is not permanent and will eventually fade.
Each color identifies a utility; Electrical, Gas, Potable Water, Sewer/Storm line respectively. Most people who mark are minimalists and some get real technical using industry abbrev. that identify material, size and even depth. Pretty straight forward stuff for excavation work. So that “Joe Dirt” doesn’t sever your power, water and poop water leaving you a caveman/woman/family for several hours eating cold Ligo sardines and rice, which is pretty damn tasty.
The industry mantra is “Call before you dig” meaning all proposed excavations must be called into USA North, a third party that sends out notifications to agencies and operators of a proposed project. Each operator/agency is required to locate and mark their particular utility within the proposed work area marked in white with the words USA. Mark’em if you gottem!
Obviously roadways and sidewalks can get pretty colorful if it’s a large project, which can really piss off some of the residents in my municipality. Often times they don’t care to know what they are for, despite every attempt to explain their importance so their services won’t be affected by “Joe Dirt” wanking on the heavy equipment joystick. “I don’t like how it looks”, “can’t you use a more subdued color that matches the roadway?”, how long will I have to look at it?”, I have visitors coming from out of town and this is not acceptable”, “can’t you write smaller?” “I’m calling the police as I consider this graffiti, what is your name?”…Donald “effen” Duck ma’m. O_o
Graffiti you say!? I may just have to keep practicing my handstyle. Montana paint, anyone?
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