Giant Concrete Arrows Across the American Landscape(core77.com)

228 pointsby tyskis13 anni fa46 comments

Giant Concrete Arrows Across the American Landscape

http://www.core77.com/blog/transportation/what_are_these_giant_concrete_arrows_across_the_american_landscape_25236.asp

12 comments

The link at the end to concrete recycling is fascinating - having demolished 100 ton of concrete and steel in the back yard in the last year, it sounds great to have a largely mess free system.

duskwuff13 anni fa

Unfortunately, it's a student design concept, not an actual product. (This means there are likely to be major functional flaws in the design, as feasibility is generally not a consideration in these design competitions.)

HCIdivision1713 anni fa

Is there any plausible reason such arrows would be broken up on purpose? In my mind, I would want more things like this to exist; large physical failsafe markers seem like a great idea.

Sanddancer13 anni fa

These arrows, probably not so much, as they are pretty much all in the middle of nowhere. However, general concrete recycling is useful because breaking up existing, unused concrete for works projects tends to be cheaper than, and is more environmentally friendly than, quarrying.

HCIdivision1713 anni fa

Ah, I did not know that. Thanks!

javert13 anni fa

I don't get it. Doesn't concrete crack and break in a messy way? How could it be re-used?

286c8cb04bda13 anni fa

> How could it be re-used?

To somewhat over-simplify, concrete is made from three things: Cement, large aggregate (big rocks), and small aggregate (little rocks). Broken up concrete works pretty well as large aggregate.

javert13 anni fa

Awesome, thanks!

mynameishere13 anni fa

Even modern pilots (without GPS) use rivers and highways. Why couldn't 1920s pilots use railroads?

Sanddancer13 anni fa

The arrows and beacons were designed for night usage, where it's a lot harder to see railroad tracks. The arrows themselves seem to be much more the supplemental part of the system, to give a general idea where the next beacon's going to be.

adaml_62313 anni fa

But planes and pilots can take short cuts over mountains and terrain that railroads have to go around. Navigating these shorter routes might have been harder but would definitely be worth it in fuel and time savings

jonah13 anni fa

Also night time and all the roads looking the same after a while.

keenerd13 anni fa

It was often hard to tell these features apart from up in the air. There are many instances of pilots losing races because they followed the wrong rail line. For a really in-depth history of pre-electronic navigation, check out "Most Probable Position" by Wright, http://www.amazon.com/Most-Probable-Position-History-Navigat...

ChuckMcM13 anni fa

Modern joke "What do you mean by IFR" it means "I follow Roads"

jff13 anni fa

With the extra joke being that following roads is actually VFR and that you most likely couldn't follow roads in IFR.

JshWright13 anni fa

If that's the extra joke... What's the primary joke?

jff13 anni fa

"Haha IFR is a fancy-sounding term but you really mean you just find a road and follow it to your destination as though you were in a car"

cjrp13 anni fa

I've heard it as "Vee Follow Roads" since it's VFR where you're more likely to use ground features

jonah13 anni fa

We had a tower with light in my town. We're right on the Pacific coast to the tower was inland and behind a hill so it couldn't be mistaken for a lighthouse by passing ships.

The tower and shed are still there and are used for communication antennas.

trafficlight13 anni fa

All of the navigation beacons in Montana are still functioning.

http://mthistoryrevealed.blogspot.com/2013/03/guiding-lights...

jlgreco13 anni fa

> behind a hill so it couldn't be mistaken for a lighthouse by passing ships.

I wonder why they didn't just put it on ship maps as an additional lighthouse.

jedc13 anni fa

Lighthouses are regularly used for navigation, so they need to have almost guaranteed up-time. Don't think that would always be the case for these particular kinds of lights.

[deleted]13 anni fa

jaredandrews13 anni fa

> since navigation charts of the day were fugazi...

OT but Fugazi is the name of one of my favorite bands. In interviews I had read that the word meant "a fucked up situation" but until now I had never seen it actually used that way. Interesting choice of words, interesting article too!

toddmorey13 anni fa

I heard it used that way from growing up on Military posts. It just means any fucked up situation. I'm not sure it's known, but I was told it was made popular by troops in Vietnam. The most interesting theory I've seen is that it may derive from fougasse (“land mine”). All of that said, it makes one of the best band names ever.

swalkergibson13 anni fa

My understanding is that it is an acronym.

Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In.

raldi13 anni fa

My understanding is that acronym stories like that are almost always apocryphal.

teddyh13 anni fa

Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym

[deleted]13 anni fa

jack-r-abbit13 anni fa

I also enjoy some Fugazi. I never knew what the name meant. After seeing it used in this article I had to look it up.

anxrn13 anni fa

A Google Maps collection of these.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=gplus-ogsb&ie=UTF8&oe...

dionidium13 anni fa

Any particular reason most of the locations on that map are in the West?

phreanix13 anni fa

I wonder what semi permanent structures we are building now that future generations will be looking at in 80+ years and wondering about our archaic technology.

thinkalone13 anni fa

Possibly a lot of traffic structures, since vehicles and transportation may be largely computer-controlled by then, which would re-shape any related infrastructure that has "just made sense" to us in recent history

dclusin13 anni fa

The waste water storage tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant will probably still be around and contaminated 80 years from now. Although I suspect that isn't exactly what you had in mind.

sitkack13 anni fa

Just fill them with grain and have the birds eat it all. Problem gone.

pessimizer13 anni fa

If the problem was "How can I spread radiation throughout the environment?"

madaxe13 anni fa

Release a large number of cats to catch and eat the birds. Solved once and for all. ONCE AND FOR ALL.

[deleted]13 anni fa

kalleboo13 anni fa

Gas stations?

kghose13 anni fa

If we had the government make concrete arrows like that today, they would be cracked into rubble in three years because the contractor cut as many corners as they could. (Sorry, My cynical, the past was so much better moment for today)

patdennis13 anni fa

Yeah! The g'ubment can't build anything right!

Uses GPS system to get home

stephengillie13 anni fa

So they'd be round?

reneherse13 anni fa

But if the arrows only point east to west, how did the pilots make the return trip?

;)

gdw213 anni fa

This one's pointing East... ? https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=gplus-ogsb&ie=UTF8&oe...

shabble13 anni fa

See also: Satellite imaging test patterns[1]

[1] http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration...

callmeed13 anni fa

This is so cool. I'm taking my kids on a road trip around the west soon.

Does anyone know of other cool, historical things like this we could hunt for?

gdw213 anni fa

Search the Twelve Mile Circle blog: http://www.howderfamily.com/blog/ . He covers many cool geo-odities.

dnautics13 anni fa

EBR-1 was really cool