I'm trying to remember who I was out surveying with who told me when you open a street monument to always take the mon case lid out of the road, off to the side, and where no peds would trip on it.
Whoever it was told me a couple of stories: having to pay for repairs on a compact car that missed the setup but wiped out some cones & caught the oil pan on the mon case lid, and how a car can catch the lid with the edge of its tire and flip it some random direction really fast, like at the setup or at you at the setup, or into oncoming traffic.
Anyway, seems like a good idea an I have done it ever since.
I leave it under the tripod with the intent of its doing damage if someone hits it. It seems to get the smarter drivers attention.
jud
ditto. I only move it enough to be out of the way of the monument which is underneath the tripod.
Pry the lid up and move it two feet out of the way, within the cone area but out of the way of the tripod. Tip: I wear disposable surgical gloves when fiddling with the monument well and contents. Lots of filthy stuff in there, and rusty water. The coliform bacteria count is incredibly high.
I miss the days of monument lids. I surveyed in Cleveland for a couple of years and regularly found 100+ year old stones in the streets. Back here in Kentucky, only the most modern subdivisions even have anything in the street and that is generally a Mag nail set on the second to last asphalt layer, often getting torn up by skid steers cleaning construction mud off the streets. To get at them, you have to dig up the top inch or two of asphalt. Consider yourself lucky to just pop off a lid.
We usually cone the opening so leave the lid between the cone and the hole. We don't really want anyone putting a tire directly on the hole. Imagine hitting one with a motorcylce or bicycle.
Safety is always the biggest concern and I'm sure that's what your buddy was going for.
For any work in the street, I always try to do it in the early hours of a Saturday or Sunday. Jump out there with my trusty RGPS and I'm in and out in less than 5 minutes.
Happy surveying:-D
Dugger
> Tip: I wear disposable surgical gloves when fiddling with the monument well and contents. Lots of filthy stuff in there...
We have to watch out for used needles -- junkies' not knitters' -- in some parts of town.