What "nail" marks lines in private road pavement permanently

[Mad Roger]

What "nail" marks lines in private road pavement permanently?

The county marked the right of way because we have some work to do and we want them to do some of it which they are happy to do within their ROW.

Some of the work we're doing is going to black tar over the currently painted lines for the right of way.

Before that happens I just want to make a permanent or semi-permanent mark on the road for the right of way line.

Can I assume "big nails" will do the job? Or do they work their way up and puncture tires years from now?

Or do they have something special for roads that we can buy at the hardware store?

[Taxed and Spent]

Here are some survey nails surveyors use:

I would assume the ridges on the shaft help keep the nail in place once pounded into the asphalt.

You might ask your county surveyor or road crew for their thoughts (and maybe a free handful, depending on how many you want to use). Or, why is the county not installing permanent markers before they cover up what is visible now?

[Mad Roger]

A nail is easier! :)

I just want to mark the line which is the ROW that crosses the road. It's about 20 feet from the center of the connecting public road but it's not at an angle that you would guess at.

The survey ROW apparently pre-dates the actual road, so the road doesn't exactly follow the ROW chains. The road is windy. The ROW is straight lines (go figure).

Why they do it that way is beyond me, but the only way to know where the ROW "really" is, is to measure it and mark it. They did that for me, but they marked in paint where I want the nails to outlast the paint.

I agree that a set of concrete monuments might be more permanent, but it's a lot more work than simply driving a few nails into the pavement! :)

[gfretwell]

The relationship between the road C/L and the ROW is tenuous at best. They just have to stay within that boundary. I spent a day with the surveyor here and he says they never trust the road as a benchmark. The utility poles are a better marker according to him since they usually run just inside the ROW to be as far from the road as possible. He said if you nailed your fence to your side of the poles you would only be cheating a few inches. :-)

[Mad Roger]

I agree with you that there is only a vague relationship between the centerline of the road and the centerline of the 40 foot (20 to each side) right of way.

For one thing, the ROW chains are straight sections while the road is curved.

I'm not so sure. In fact, I know the ROW and the road only share a tenuous relationship (see above). In some places, the ROW goes 40 feet OFF the road, off into the distance (usually on curves) and in other places it's skewed to one side so that there are 0 feet on the pavement on one side and

40 feet to the other.

Only on the very straight sections is the centerline of the road the same or similar as the centerline of the 20 foot to each side ROW.

I asked them once how they handle that and they explained that it only matters when it matters.

Much agreed. Every time we have a landslkide or a treefall or a rock in the road, etc., the crews come out. When they have to bulldoze or fix something, they bring the surveyors who mark the centerlines which is usually but not always in the road.

Then they put wood stakes with orange tape at the edges 20 feet to the side (usually only on one side where the work needs to be done).

As you said originally, there is only a tenuous relationship between the road and the ROW.

Out here, a guy put up a fence in the ROW and they took it down. They put a notice on it and gave him a couple of weeks and he left it there and they pulled it out and stacked all the wood neatly.

I asked them at the time how it works and it's really just a legal thing.

1. They told me that the maintenance crews will cut trees and bulldoze rocks and weed whack and groom 'about ten feet' to each side of the road, without consulting maps UNLESS someone has explicitly told them to stay away from a tree or garden or whatever AND if that thing they need to stay away from is NOT in the ROW.

Basically, the road maintenance guys just use the road as their guideline.

1. When CONSTRUCTION work is involved, then they strictly follow the ROW, where they don't touch anything outside the ROW. If destruction is involved within the ROW, they give two week's notice and that's it.

So, the ROW only matters when it matters. But as you said, the ROW only tenuously follows the road.