Roadguy cleans out his camera
Posted on October 5th, 2007 – 6:05 AMBy Roadguy
About a month ago, one of Roadguy’s many bosses gave him a new memory card for CrapCam. It has four times the memory of the old card, and that means that four times as many poorly-composed photos can accumulate before Roadguy even thinks of clearing things out. So in an effort to lighten the load, here are five extremely random pictures for your Friday.
First, here’s a way that Roadguy is pretty sure he doesn’t ever want to be honored:
I’m all for remembering the fallen, but when’s the last time you ever heard anyone say anything nice about an interchange?
Next, another photo from the West Coast, filed under “things I’m glad we don’t have here” (or at least I don’t think we have):
Nothing says “welcome to the freeway” like coils of razor wire. They’re apparently there to keep purveyors of graffiti from scaling the poles.
As long as I’m offering California photos, here’s proof of that state’s high fines for HOV scofflaws:
That’s a lot of trips to Chipotle. Roadguy was very inspired to behave.
Closer to home, one of Roadguy’s many bosses (not the one who gave him the memory card) asked him one day about the “green stuff” that road crews spread on dirt, so Roadguy took this photo near the Crosstown:
It’s so … natural-looking. Roadguy assumes it’s some kind of grass-creating mixture, but he doesn’t know, and MnDOT’s a little busy for such questions right now. So if you have knowledge, please share.
Finally, as we’ve all learned in the past few months, redundancy is a good thing in bridge design. But is it a good thing on road signs?
This was near the 10th Avenue Bridge shortly before it reopened. (And you just know that some permit-less parker tried to tell a judge that the sign was ambiguous.)
Speaking of redundancies, to all a good weekend, and a good weekend to all (especially to those who leave comments below).
13 Responses to "Roadguy cleans out his camera"
About the green stuff…you are absolutely correct! It is called hydroseed (possibly a trade name). It is a mixture of mulch, fertilizer, and quick grow seed that is mixed in a tanker truck. It is applied by spraying the contents of the tanker by something that looks like a firehose. Benefits are that is covers well, sticks to the ground, easily applied, and cheap! Its pretty much standard that MnDOT puts that as an item with the bid for projects with substantial earthwork.
The green stuff is from Hydroseeding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroseeding
Jesse beat me to it by seconds. You can buy a similar mixture (sans water) at big box home improvement and garden centers. The DIY stuff works awesome for covering small areas in a yard.
“Permit parking by Permit Only” - so as a non-permit holder the Permit only rule doesn’t apply to me (makes about as much sense as the sign).
I believge an added plus to the hydroseed is that it is less attractice to birds and other critters, which would otherwise eat the grass seed as fast as you spread it.
Hey Roadguy,
I’m disappointed you didn’t get a shot of the dreaded one-way, retractable spikes so common in CA. I love ‘em!!
That would be my dream replacement in lieu of photocop–when the light’s red, the spikes pop up. No picture of the cars, just 4 flat tires for them to deal with. And before anyone chides me–I know that isn’t a realistic option, unfortunately. I realize cars screeching out of control with 4 flat tires could be a liability to the city and innocent bystanders. A guy can dream, can’t he?
Ah, HyrdoSeed … Mike Rowe did some hyrdroseeding on “Dirty Jobs” back in March. 
I had my St. Paul home lawn hydroseeded. When I bought the house the back yard was a mess of weeds, stones, concrete and bushes. I removed the rocks and vegetation, turned over the soil, and called in the hydroseeders. I had seen hydroseeders around and I figured it would be cheeper than sodding everything and would take and grow better than me tossing out seeds.
It was teh aweseom! I luv, luv, luv it!
That last sign reminds me of 4th street between 1st & Hennepin. A bunch of spots are labelled ‘marked squads only’ though they are often filled by unmarked cars that appear to be officers’ private vehicles. They certainly seem to never be ticketed.
I’ve been wondering about the green stuff as well. I will take it as true that it is hydro seed.
However, why would they apply it on dirt that is obviously going to be moved in the not too distant future? It seems to me that a lot of this dirt has just been dumped in a relitively out of the way place for use later on.
May be they hydro seed it to prevent it from eroding and oozing onto the roadway.
Just a guess.
When Mike Rowe sprayed the hydroseed on “Dirty Jobs” it didn’t have any seed in it. They just sprayed it to prevent erosion. I think dwp4401 is correct that they are just preventing erosion. Honestly, I’d rather see a big pile of mud than the sticky green stuff.
About the “Green Stuff”… Your all right it’s hydroseed, and yes the reason it’s sprayed on areas that will be moved again, is to prevent erosion. It’s required by the law in some cases. Hydroseeding is fast becoming a hit in the residential sector as well. A new home in our area can be hydroseeded for as little as $500, compare that to more than $1,500 for sodding the same yard. For more info you can check out our web site at: http://www.TheCorporateGrounds.com or feel free to give us a call toll free at 1-866-976-7669
Sorry to get technical, but hydroseed isn’t necessarily correct. The term hydroseeding refers to a combination of seed and hydraulic soil stabilizer mixed together and sprayed onto the soil. The “green stuff” is the hydraulic soil stabilizer. This particular application may or may not have seed, it is impossible to tell by the picture, so you can’t say by looking that it is hydroseeding. The purpose of the hydraulic soil stabilizer is to prevent erosion, and is used in lieu of other types of mulch (e.g. straw) or erosion control blanket. For example, I often specify drill seeding (which actually sows the seed) followed by hydraulic soil stabilizer as “mulch” on relatively flat slopes. This wouldn’t be hydroseeding, as the seed is not mixed in with the hydraulic soil stabilizer. In this case, judging by the steep slope and the obvious erosion that is occurring in the picture, they should have used an erosion control blanket instead of the hydraulic soil stabilizer.
