Comments for NewUrbanStreets

Comment on Layout to Avoid Graffiti by blazej

blazej — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:27:11 +0000

it seems to be a smart solution but i am affraid it involves to much money to spend so the governement can affort it. ;/

Comment on Required Graffiti or Utility Locate Painting? by Vertical Driller..

Vertical Driller.. — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:42:03 +0000

as Larry stated the writer dose have a good idea of what is going on. Currently my teammates and I are installing 70 some miles of fiber. If it rains the markings are usually washed away. If it’s the least bit damp out this pain will not stick brick roads. I can not speak for the locate crew in your area. I can tell you where I am, we have a 3rd party locate for every service where we are drilling. For instance if these marking are not on the ground I can not install the fiber optic that runs past your house and you can not upgrade to the “fastest internet” of the current time. These marking save lives, property damage, and law suits. ie.. If my locator fails to mark something and I am in your area. If I hit it you lose the service, being gas, electric, water, cable, phone.. get the drift? some temp paint on the ground keeps you connected to the world. Now for the lives the paint saves, Drill operator, water truck driver, He hits a lvl 3 power that was not marked poof 2 ppl are lost, he hits an unmarked 6 inch steel cased gas line that runs thru your front yard and it’s a Saturday. Kids playing in the yard, someone is mowing the front lawn, the Mrs. is in the flower garden.. A lot more lost than just the 2 employees. Personally I don’t care if I blow up a quarter million dollar drill, I don’t care If I hit a water line and your basement gets flooded. It’s all replaceable and we are insured. I would not be able to live with my self if I caused harm to another person because there was not enough paint on the ground. I do see you are in Texas, I know the state is in the process of acquiring enough contractors with drills to replace all the steel gas lines. The old ones are close to the end of their service. There will be loads of paint on the ground.

Comment on How to Reduce Utility Locate Markings by Larry

Larry — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:48:40 +0000

As a locator, I love seeing white lines. The contractors who white line in my city tend to be the cream of the crop. They know what they’re doing, and genuinely want to do a good job. Contractors who call in a square block when only a few square feet is needed are sloppy, uncooperative, and lazy. When I try calling them, they play dumb. White lining is hardly an “extra step” in the process. Perhaps the real solution to this Mr. Davis, is to hire known good contractors for your public jobs and require in the job spec that they white line. When low-bid is used to select a company, low-end is the result.

You seem to be genuinely offended by the paint marks on your streets and sidewalks. Locators are at the end of the line blame-wise. The buck does indeed stop with us. There are many steps above us which create the need to use your streets as our “personal canvas”. We’re the worker bees Mr. Davis. We simply do what we’re told, with a ticking time clock on every locate request, and repercussions if we don’t prevent damage. If you don’t like the result, I suggest you look further up the food chain at the engineers who plan a job, the construction meetings with the contractors, and of course the contractors themselves.

Comment on Required Graffiti or Utility Locate Painting? by Larry

Larry — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:02:09 +0000

An interesting article. The writer obviously knows a fair amount about the job of locating, but doesn’t seem to see the entire picture. I do cable locates for a living, and feel reasonably qualified to add a few points. Very very few contractors will do a job with only one locate request. All too frequently a contractor will request a locate weekly for three or four weeks before even showing up to do the job. Since the paint normally does not last for more than a few weeks on a road surface with reasonable traffic, the locator knows he/she has to put down enough paint to be able to see the marks when he comes back the next time. This saves time by not requiring hooking up the transmitter and wandering around in traffic with your head down. Trust me, if you did this for a living, using a minimal amount of paint is the last thing you want to do.

Additionally, I don’t know about your paving bricks, but those used in my city absolutely do not absorb anything. The paint wears off the hard smooth surface much quicker than on concrete.

True, locating is a way of assigning blame. In my experience the most careless contractors, who hit things, are the ones who request the most geographically stupid locates. They ask for both sides of the street for the length of the block, when all they end up digging is one small hole. They do this because they’ve been fined for damaging gas, electric, telecom, whatever, and feel as if they’re getting even somehow.

Comment on Required Graffiti or Utility Locate Painting? by Caleb

Caleb — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:13:28 +0000

The real issues we find here is lack of training of the locate tech and failure of the contractor who is doing the excavation.
The locate company can train locators to be mindful of how the area looks to the public while still leaving plainly visible marks. The locate company can also choose to have their techs use chalk paint, colored grease pencils or crayons and off-set marks from an area which is less sensitive to blatant marks.
The contractor can set up meetings with locators and specify the exact extent of work needed. This is the biggest problem that we as locators see and the reasons are: certain contractors deride locators or the utility company they work for in general, certain contractors never visit job sites and over call their locate requests, some are notorious for not caring what facilities may be in their way and disregard marks forcing more blatant marks, many fail to actually do the work and proceed to recall locate requests time after time after time.
I know all this because these are the issues our locating dept faces on a daily basis.
There is some recourse though. First, the Locate company can be liable to remove over zealous marks, I’ve both seen and done it myself. Second, the contractor in many states is held liable by the one-call laws to remove any and all marks as well as damage to any area worked upon, restoring it to it’s original state or better.
In summary, there is things that can improve on both sides of the paint and there is recourse to have excessive markings removed. Check the state laws.

Comment on Changing to Pay-&-Display parking meters-Appearance Issues by John

John — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:47:52 +0000

Almost every city now has Pay & Display machines that dispense parking receipts that you need to display through your windshield. Besides the aesthetics issues, dealing with paper receipts has its own practical issues. I dislike the accumulation of receipts and many times they would get stuck between the windshield and the dashboard. Once, my receipt blew off the dashboard and I got a ticket! I looked for solutions but could not find any and then invented Park ‘n’ Display (http://www.parkndisplay.com) to deal with these problems.

Park ‘n’ Display displays, holds and stores parking receipts, placards and even toll pass transponders. The device is attached to the inside of your vehicle’s windshield with VELCRO® brand fasteners, making it simple to attach and detach. Our patent pending design allows for quick and easy insertion and removal of multiple receipts and placards so one can remove them all at once for disposal or for tracking business expenses.

The initial response by users to the Park ‘n’ Display device has been fantastic (especially from commercial users). Visit http://www.parkndisplay.com for more information or to purchase one.

Comment on About This Site by Tom Davis

Tom Davis — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:17:20 +0000

Martha – I added a post about storing old brick that may interest you.

Comment on Leaves Stamped in Concrete by Alternative to the White Line | NewUrbanStreets

Alternative to the White Line | NewUrbanStreets — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:20:15 +0000

[...] Note – This is a followup article to Trees in the Parking Lane on Dallas St and Leaves Stamped in Concrete. [...]

Comment on Trees in a Parking Lane on Dallas Street by Leaves Stamped Concrete | NewUrbanStreets

Leaves Stamped Concrete | NewUrbanStreets — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:01:23 +0000

[...] day we were talking about the gaps in the row of trees planned for Dallas Street due underground obstructions and wishing there was a way to continue the theme. The project [...]

Comment on About This Site by Tom Davis

Tom Davis — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:07:08 +0000

Martha – I wish we had a spec for reuse of old brick that addresses the issues we encountered. I wrote this article to share ideas with others that want to reuse the old bricks but must write their own spec. The issue is that the standard spec for placing modern brick pavers does not address issues with bricks made 100+ years ago. The architect that says not to worry that “they will not accept it until it is right” is gambling with your money they can bluff their way into getting a good job. If it is spec’ed and detailed correctly there is no need to for the stand-off.

I will be glad to review your consultant’s draft and offer my 2 cents.