What Is A "highway Station"

[pfw3]

I thought I would give benchmark hunting a try, so I looked up the descriptions of some in my area. One of the descriptions includes the following information: "58 feet left of highway station T 6 795 + 65." The description was provided by the California Division of Highways in 1967. I searched the Clatrans web site, but didn't find any reference to highway stations.

 

On the premise that the only dumb question is the one not asked, I'm hoping someone in the forum can help me understand what a "highway station" is, and how I decipher/use the station's designation. Also, although this may be obvious from the definition of a highway station, how do you determine the direction of "left"?

 

Thanks.

[mloser]

I think it is one of those fractional milepost markers you see along roads sometimes. Interstates have them every .1 mile. Other roads have them less often, and sometimes they have been removed, most likely because they got damaged and were a headache to keep in repair.

[+Klemmer]

On engineering drawings for many types of projects, the term "station" is used to designate an exact location. For example, in my field, we use terms like "Fuselage Station 20.034" (often abreviated "F.S.20.034") to exactly locate an object on an aircraft. I believe in the civil engineering business that the same is done for many projects. There was a thread on that not long ago here, something about a bridge in Boston.... but I couldn't find it. Anyway, a real surveyor (as opposed to me the amateur) can chime in, but I'm thinking that a "Highway Station" is a spot on the highway that could be located, if one had the appropriate drawings of the highway.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

I think this is what they are refering to.

 

 

Only this is for the state of Nevada.

John

[+Shorelander]

I think this is what they are refering to.

<snip>

Only this is for the state of Nevada.

I have no idea how long it takes to stamp a disk in the field, but I have to imagine someone was cursing as they got their tools out to stamp the 450 letters on that one.

[+Klemmer]

I agree with John. But you may or may not find such a disc in the area you are looking. Shheeesh... what a messy disc!

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

Stationing is used to define a position along a manmade structure, and to allow a person to relate the physical features of that structure to a set of construction plans or other drawings. Typically, large and/or long projects such as highways and roadwork, canals & aquaducts, railroads, and hydro-electric projects get stationing assigned to them.

 

A station line is established for the project, most often a centerline (of a road or pipeline, etc.) but they can also be a hypothetical construction line. The stationing begins at one end and increases to the other end. The stationing can be in feet or meters, depending on the project measurement units. In my area, stationing of a line commonly begins at 1000.00 feet, shown on the plans as 10+00.00. Any number can be used as a starting reference, but 0.00 is seldom used (if ever) to prevent any negative stationing. The stationing increases in 100 and 1000 foot increments and would be shown as 11+00.00 (100 feet from the start of the line), 26+00.00 (1600 feet from the start), or 14+27.68 (427.68 feet from the start). This established line does not need to be straight. Station lines are commonly curved.

 

Offsets to the left and right are also used as stationing references. The left and right of the line is defined by standing at the beginning of the line (10+00.00) and looking toward the other end. Use your left and right hands to figure out the rest. A feature (a fire hydrant, gate valve, curbing, etc.) can then be called out as 12+82.36 45.3R (282.36 feet from the start of the line, and 45.3 feet to the right of the line.)

 

Most railroads and some highways also use mileposts. Mile posts are similar to stationing, but they use miles instead of feet as the unit of measurement. Mile markers are usually not as hyper-accurate as construction stationing and are usually used to find a general location (like a highway offramp or railroad line switch) instead of an exact location (like the exact beginning and end of a bridge deck).

 

- Kewaneh

[Bill93]

To illustrate what Kewaneh said, around here it is common to see small white signs on steel posts along highway right-of-way or fence lines, placed every 500 feet, and bearing a sequence of numbers like 35 40 45 etc. These would indicate the highway construction stations 35+00 (3,500 feet) 40+00 (4,000 feet, etc. I presume the stations are at the center of the road, and the signs are offset to the ROW, but I could be wrong.

 

If they have your highway similarly marked, then you should find numbers in the area like 795, 800 etc. As you travel in the direction of increasing numbers, go 65 feet past station 795, and look to the left of the road 58 feet from center.

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

Profile Leveling.

The process of determining the elevations of points at short measured intervals along a fixed line is called profile leveling.

During the location and construction of highways,railroads,canals and sewers stakes or other marks are placed at regular intervals along an established line,usually the center line.

Ordinarily the interval between stakes is 100 ft.,50 ft.,or 25 ft.

The 100 ft. points,reconed from the beggining of the line,are called full stations,and all other stations are called plus stations.

 

Here is 2 Examples in Montana ans Wyoming right at the border.

From Station to line Wyoming.

 

Montana.

 

These being the first stations at each point.

Hope that helps

[mloser]

Bill93,

Well put! That is exactly what I was talking about, but you said it much more eloquently, with examples.

[Z15]

To illustrate what Kewaneh said, around here it is common to see small white signs on steel posts along highway right-of-way or fence lines, placed every 500 feet, and bearing a sequence of numbers like 35 40 45 etc. These would indicate the highway construction stations 35+00 (3,500 feet) 40+00 (4,000 feet, etc. I presume the stations are at the center of the road, and the signs are offset to the ROW, but I could be wrong.

 

If they have your highway similarly marked, then you should find numbers in the area like 795, 800 etc. As you travel in the direction of increasing numbers, go 65 feet past station 795, and look to the left of the road 58 feet from center.

 

Bill

 

They put those little signs on the fence or other object so they can refer to the plans when out in the field doing any kind of work. All highway work is referenced to stationing.

 

Also you will find stations stenciled into the right side of the road on most concrete pavements, on culvry headwalls. Nothing is consistant, different projects can use different sequence statioing and so on. Have to have the corresponding plans to make any sense from the stations.

 

Spent 30 yrs living with them every working day.

Edited April 14, 2006 by Z15

[+Renegade Knight]

...Nothing is consistant, different projects can use different sequence statioing and so on. Have to have the corresponding plans to make any sense from the stations.

 

Spent 30 yrs living with them every working day...

 

Even the same plans can have different stationing on different alignments. Curblines, Centerlines, Sewer Lines, Survey Lines.

[Z15]

Wait till someone finds a Station Equation"? LOL

Edited April 14, 2006 by Z15

[pfw3]

Thanks to all of you for your input. I'm getting quite an education.

 

I think I know where the benchmark in question is located, so it will be interesting to visit the site, confirm that it's there, and then see if I can find any signage or markings that correlate to the description.

[Z15]

Even the same plans can have different stationing on different alignments. Curblines, Centerlines, Sewer Lines, Survey Lines.

 

Have seen the same C/L alignment have different stationing either purposly or planned. We had a consultant survey project back about 10 yrs ago. It was road thru a Nat't Forest and the USFS decided they wanted to consult out the survey. So they let bids and some consultant from Georgia got the bid for up here near Lake Superior. He totally ignored the plan stationing, the alignment we set in the field and came up with his own. What a mess he created for the designer as they could not reference the original plans and none of the property lines, as he provided to tie between them. We had to go in and fix his mess yet he still got paid the $35,000 for his contract price. A USFS qualified contractor.

Edited April 15, 2006 by Z15