Monday, May 19, 2008

5/19/08 Old Fashioned Road Construction Flag Man Set Up

I remember this from my childhood and was trying to figure out why I hadn't seen it in so long. I guess most of my driving has been on divided highways since my childhood and I just hadn't run into this. But here is an old fashioned flagman who is stopping the traffic in one direction while those of us coming from the other direction utilize the only available lane on the two-lane highway. Behind me was a truck that was part of the construction crew and he was the last one to get through from my direction. The flagman back on the other side of the construction had put up his STOP sign and was halting traffic coming from my direction. As soon as the truck and I get through, this flagman in the picture will turn his sign from STOP to SLOW and allow this line of vehicles to utilize the single lane. As I recall, back when gas was cheap and walkie talkies weren't, the construction truck was the signal of the end of the line and the time to let the waiting traffic proceed. That truck would then turn around and get at the end of the now moving line and follow it through signaling the other side that it was now their turn. I'm thinking it's all done by walkie talkie now but it was a fun flashback.

PS This was on the road to Dixfield where I taught my graduate course this semester. Except this time I wasn't going teaching, I was going to Mexico, Maine, which is just a few miles beyond Dixfield, and is the closest Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles. I got my Maine driver's license today!

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