DOT Stories

July 19, 2005

Nura and I were finishing laying out the Type 1 signs. The last sign was in the median so the calculations that Nura did will not work and we have to split the difference and put the sign in the middle. The S distance given in the plan is the distance between legs, in this case the S is 10.8 feet. We measure the median and it is 50 feet wide. Nura says to me, “The sign it 18 feet wide so we should add 9 feet to 25.” I say Nura, “You understand what we are doing here right? We are trying to figure out where the legs of the sign go. What is the “S” distance?” She says “10.8 feet.” Then she starts writing something down. I realize at this point that she has no idea what she is doing, nor does she have any understanding of the big picture here. I hope it is obvious to you that to figure out the correct distances, that we needed to take the “S” distance (10.8) divide that by 2 to get 5.4 feet. And then add and subtract 5.4 feet from 25. I waited about 6 or 7 seconds and finally I say, “So we need to make them at 30.4 and 19.6 feet.” Nura looks at me with an amazed look on her face and says “You were able to figure that out in your head?”