Yellow with Gray Triangle

Cracks and spaulding developed in the curbing near where I work.

Workmen came out a month or so ago to make repairs,

They semi-carefully cut the damaged concrete curbing away

with diamond-tipped saw blades, then filled the

resulting gash with of mending concrete.

Here, against the older and new bits of yellow paint,

the triangle helps to create both a bit of tension

and attention for a bit of curbside art.

The repaired bit shown below was done

several years ago. The workmen either realized 

the triangle would make a stronger repair,

or that two cuts only made for

a quicker job, requiring less work. 

Textured Tuesday: Theme and Variation

There is something about the pattern 

in the rubber base of the traffic barrel that 

echoes the shapes of the concrete 

chunks lying just beside it.

Concrete Evidence

A section of a street near my home is having its surface ground down, 

then repaired and repaved. When this has been completed, 

new curbs are being installed, as needed. Here, one can see evidence 

of the heavy equipment used to perform the work; 

the tread marks of the dump trucks and grinders left behind 

where they were driven through the wet conctete slurry. 

Useful Detritus

Work crews installing new lines for the electrical company 

left their tools ready for use Monday morning.

However, each crew seemed to treat the tools with various 

degrees of respect; while this crew at least made an effort to place

their shovels, broom, and supplies in the scoop of their backhoe,

others left them where they were tossed in a pile of sand.

Rain-soaked doughnuts were abandoned to the elements, 

with only their sugar coating melted by the rain.

Eeuw. 

Traffic Cone Work Day

I've often wondered how traffic cones got to work, now I know -

they meet at the highway department then share a ride 

to the work site. This time they've been assigned to assist in the

grading and repaving of a stretch of 25th Street, 

just off High School Road.

About every twelve feet or so, each cone leaped off the truck

to take its station, creating a phalanx of orange designed to 

separate the work area from the cars and trucks traveling along

the street. The cones have their own guards; at each end of the project,

a woman was stationed with a STOP sign that she used to

control and guide the flow of traffic throughout the day.

Men in ... Oops! Check That ... Men Filling Holes

A new hole! It looked as though it had just been cut and the crew 

was getting ready to install another section of water line.

I was on my way to a swimming session and could not stop,

intending to pester the men with questions about the new line,

as well as the fire hydrant, afterwards.

Two hours later, I came out to find that not only had

the pipe been installed, but the hole was filled and ... and ...

and they were cleaning the cement truck!

OMG! Another missed opportunity!

All with the help of their beautiful assistant, Clarice.

(I made up the part about her name. There was 

a "Clarence" at the other end of the project.)

A Pay Check for Somebody

All over the city, new sidewalks, drainage systems, and curbing is being installed.

In Speedway, the narrow side streets have each, in their turn, been torn up

so that new sewage lines can be put in place.

Outside the entry to my workplace, a new retention pond has been

created, lined with rip-rap, to help alleviate flooding 

in the neighborhood. New sidewalks have also been poured,

which will be greatly appreciated by the disabled folk who live nearby.

While all of this has been needed, and some may have been 

long-planned, I think the scale of the operation, taking in a great part 

of metro Indy, is due to the Economic Stimulus Act; our virulently

Republican government condemns the operation, but is avidly

using the monies received to do the much-needed work.

While I have no proof that this is so, the amount of work being done

for the past 4 years seems unprecedented.

Curbing Enthusiasm

Yesterday morning was gray and dreary. As we turned the corner 

near work, I saw these men working at the intersection,

installing the forms for new concrete curbing.

I liked their bright, safety green shirts, worn over their

gray sweatshirts and blue denim pants,

the real "stonewashed" jeans.

Overnight rains soaked their work area, meaning no work 

was done Tuesday, but the forms await their cement, lashed, I'm sure, 

with a healthy dose of components to keep the poured

cement from freezing.

Black-Red-Orange

I'd seen them on the highway, reels of plastic tubing on a trailer 

being taken to a work site. The trailer carrying these reels 

was parked at the corner, about a quarter mile from here. Yay! 

A crew of three men was digging a hole to begin installation.

A block farther up the street, machinery connected

to a water truck would burrow underground, using water 

from the truck to move the dirt and to push 

the tubing through the little tunnel. 

I guess then the cables follow, threaded 

through the corresponding tubes.

These "tails" are left above ground, I suppose 

to be connected to the next segment 

of tubing, as it is all buried beneath the surface.

Maps

I could not resist these beautifully colored scribbles, describing 

the various utilities' paths along Lynhurst Drive. In a bit of time,

the crews digging and cutting through the sidewalks and

roadbed will know exactly where they can place the points of

their scoops and shovels -- or not.

For the past couple years, crews have been laying new sewage line 

throughout the Town of Speedway. These marks have, I understand, 

a universally understood code for the colors. 

Guess which one blue identifies?

Ooooh ... It's a Man In A Pit!

I really enjoy taking pictures of men at work, 

men who know how to do the tasks that keep a home, 

a building, a city functioning. So I was delighted to look

into a manhole at the intersection of Meridian and Ohio Streets

 to find an actual, real MAN IN A PIT! And in harness, too!

He's an electrician, so I assume he can change

 a light bulb and understands circuit breakers.

The downside to his job, other than the claustrophobic

pit and occasional rat, is the fact that he's standing in water. 
Cold Water. Eeeuuw!

There's hustle and bustle all around town, 

both the usual street work as well as preparations

for the 2012 Super Bowl. This crew was at work last week

polishing the marble and terrazzo floors, and shining 
the brass railings in the Indiana War Memorial.  

And there's a lot of it to be made spiffy.

Concrete Images

I went out today looking for one thing, turtles, but they'd hidden somewhere in the creek bed. However, I did find children's chalk drawings on a sidewalk and a brand new hole in the ground that I just had to inspect. The drawings tell me there's a kid in the area with some talent while the hole revealed the textures left behind by the backhoe and the sand dumped in to cover the gas valve that had been replaced.


There were two people making art today: the kid with the chalk, and a man who scribed textures into  the cement with his backhoe.