On The Mark

“You were born in the city

Concrete under your feet

It's in your moves, it's in your blood

You're a man of the street”

Glenn Fry - “You Belong to the Street”

I see things differently. Regular readers are undoubtedly thinking, “No feces!” In this case, however, it has less to do with my twisted mind and world view and more to do with my life experiences. In high school and college, I worked summers in a Civil Engineering firm as an assistant to a group of engineers and surveyors. Most of it was outdoors and on roads and construction sites, where I was exposed to the special language of that world. It is a written language, a set of runes largely inscribed in colored spray paint on the tablets of asphalt and concrete under our feet…or tires.

That’s where it becomes relevant to motorcycles: motos give us a unique perspective, free of an enshrouding cocoon of materials, that otherwise hides the runes from view. I am certain you’ve paid scant notice to these symbols and have even put your foot down on them when stopped at a traffic light. Unless you specifically pay attention to them or know how to read their special language, even though they may be inscribed in neon colors, they might as well be written in invisible ink to the casual passerby.

I was talking to an employee in the parking lot one day, having just gotten off my bike, and I looked down to see a small, faded pink equilateral triangle painted on the parking lot, about six inches per side. In the center, driven nearly flush with the asphalt, was a silver nail with a dot in the middle of the head. Alongside the triangle, also in faded pink, were the numbers “8+00.” Hundreds of people a day walk past - or on - this point and I doubt a single one pays attention, but it says a great deal.

The color pink denotes a survey marker and the triangle identifies it as a “station” or a point at which you set up a measuring instrument like a theodolite or GPS. The silver nail is a special type, hardened for driving into asphalt or concrete, and the little dot in the head is the precise point over which the measuring instrument is to be located. The “8+00” typically indicates that point is 800 feet from a zero reference. When used around construction, they are typically placed fairly far away so that the equipment used in construction (which usually involves destruction to start) does not disturb them.

There are other colors too. Red denotes electricity, something very important when you’re about to sink the end of your backhoe or jackhammer into the pavement. In addition to depriving people of power, it can result in electrocutions. Water, the natural enemy of electricity, is denoted by blue paint. Yellow indicates gas or some other flammable entity, another thing to avoid mixing with electricity. Green is stinky sewage and orange is telecommunication, both of which people really don’t appreciate having interrupted, but whose impact on the operators has less potential for deadly consequences, although sewer methane has been known to blow manhole covers considerable distances.

In addition to the colors, each industry has its own shorthand of letters and numbers, similar to the surveyors, to quickly convey information to those who can read the runes. Each utility pole has a serial number and if you know where to look, there may be a railroad spike driven horizontally into the base to provide an elevation reference point for the construction guys (which is from where the term “benchmark” comes). If you’ve ever ridden your bike on unmarked, freshly-paved roads, you have probably noted white markings with special end symbols telling the paint truck where to stop and start the double yellow lines, passing zones, and turn lanes.

The next time you’re out for a ride, especially in the city, take at least casual notice of the language of the street. You’ll be surprised by the quantity of tales inscribed beneath your tires by the monks who write such things. When you park your bike and walk, pay attention to the things on the streets and sidewalks, many of which you’ve blithely passed hundreds of times without noticing them or knowing what they mean. The language of the streets tells stories and if you have even a rudimentary knowledge of the runes, it might prove interesting.