Old Fart Highway Guy

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Last Post by holy-cow 3 years ago

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spag47

(@spag47)

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Hi, all.?ÿ I'm Jim and I'm from Illinois.?ÿ I'm a retired Civil Engineer and worked in the highway construction business for 45 years.?ÿ I started my career working as a summer student for the State department of transportation building highways and bridges using army surplus transits and dumpy levels. (Same equipment used to build the Gateway Arch...which blows my mind!).?ÿ At that point, I operated the dumb end of a 100' chain.?ÿ I never did any surveying professionally but occasionally would do some layout work related to the asphalt industry...i.e. plant layout, etc.?ÿ As I said, I'm retired but, as I see various surveyors out there doing their thing, I'm overwhelmed with the expertise and equipment today.?ÿ I'm here to look to refresh my experience a bit and ask a few questions about my "antiquated" equipment.

Posted : June 6, 2023 7:38 pm

johnmc21s

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It's fascinating to hear about your career in highway construction and how you started out using army surplus transits and dumpy levels.

Posted : June 7, 2023 2:12 am

Andy Bruner

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Welcome aboard. I'm also a retired engineer who was and always will be a surveyor. I don't practice anymore but it's still in my blood.

Andy

Posted : June 7, 2023 4:59 am

Norm

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Hey OF,

You probably learned more about practical engineering on the dumb end than you realize. You are right, things have changed. While technology has certainly taken over there are some things that got lost that were learned on the dumb end. Welcome

Posted : June 7, 2023 5:41 am