July 14, 2005
I asked Nura to determine the locations of the signs that go into the concrete medians. This needs to be done before the concrete is placed so that when the signs are to be installed after the concrete has been poured there is a hole in the concrete to put the sign in. This saves everyone a lot of time and energy, otherwise a hole would need to be cut in the concrete. I told Nura that I didn’t know how to exactly lay them out as far as the distance each sign should be from either end of the median, or how far back they should be from the curb. I told her to look at the standard detail drawings and maybe call Tom Heydel (Tom puts together and approves all of our sign plans) if she has any questions. Later in the day we drive by the intersection and I say to her, “Did you lay out the median signs?” She says yes. As we drive by I noticed that the locations that she marked out were right in the middle of the median. I asked her if the signs go right in the middle of the median as they are marked. She says “No, the edge of the sign should be 2 feet from the edge of the curb.” I ask her “So why does it look like it is marked in the middle of the median.” Her reply was “Oh I didn’t know you wanted the signs to be located off of the curb as well.” I.E. she marked the signs longitudinally but not latitudinally.
Now please realize that had I not come along with my infinite wisdom, check that while I do have infinite wisdom all anyone needed was a little common sense to figure out that she had the mark in the wrong location. Anyhow had I not explained to her why we need the correct location for these signs, I would have had a 2 foot by 2 foot hole in the concrete about 3 feet away from the spot where I would have had to have the contractor saw through 6 inches of concrete so that we could put the sign in the right location. I am not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but Nura and I were the same engineering classification at the DOT and in fact she had seniority over me.
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