Understanding the strange marks spray painted on the sidewalks of America’s cities

In a longish life, I've looked at a lot of sidewalks. I've always enjoyed what I call "Urban Hiking", because although I enjoy the great outdoors, I want my great outdoors to have convenience stores nearby. And when I would return home from these walks, the grownups would ask what I had seen. Even when I was a little kid I learned to tell people something that they could relate to, like that I went over to the tennis courts, or the library, which was true. But what I saw, and looked for, is a world that was invisible to most people, and I can see a lot in sidewalks. But until very recently I hadn't even tried to read the strange marks that are spray painted on them, so yesterday I started this journey. I'll tell you what I know.

I started with a "cheat sheet" that I found on the internet, but of course I have no idea if it applies to my local area, which is Phoenix, but it's a start. Mostly I was interested in the color code. That blue meant water just seems to make sense, and I know that there's a complex world of stuff buried under the streets, and every once in a while the streets have to be dug up. Apparently this system began in 1976 after a crew accidentally dug up a water line somewhere in California, and I can just imagine the meetings afterwards, with someone saying "How about we mark the water lines in blue with spray paint?" Of course, they had to use paint that faded away over time, which is why you see bright colors and faded colors.

The photo at the top of this post looks fairly new, and my best guess is that it says "Water Line, 13 feet. The arrow pointing to a straight line is something that I learned in drafting class, and just means "from exactly here".

Of course, whenever I start learning about something I want to learn some more, and invariably someone comes at me with charts and graphs and totally overwhelms me with information. I've learned over the years to smile at these people, and quietly move on when I could. I've spent my life learning, and I have plenty of time to learn this, which I do for the same reason that I learn about history, just because I enjoy it. I'll let you know what I find out.

Red means electrical, and white means proposed excavation.

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Comments

  1. Cpt. CrankyJuly 27, 2021 at 8:08 PM

    This should help: https://caseytrees.org/2018/06/color-coding-demystifying-city-spray-paint-marks/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brad HallJuly 28, 2021 at 4:51 AM

      Nice! Thank you! I had been wondering why my "cheat sheet" didn't include sewer lines. Green!

      Delete

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