The city of Dade Co put me in charge of installing aluminum signs. Any advice?

[streetsignsam]

This is the break I have been waiting for at FL DOT.. At least I think it might be. Anyways, I have never been in charge of a thing like this and I am excited, but nervous. My boss is sort of an asshole too and hard to make happy so hopefully he doesn't read this and get perturbed. Searching got me here. Do I have what I intended to find?

Have any of you on this board been in charge of putting a bunch of aluminum signs up for traffic control in some area? What was it like and where did you find the best deal? I saw these guys who say they do wholesale aluminum signs. Did you learn anything about regulations that I need to look out for? Is there asparagus in your mother's freezer? Lol jk but yea any and all help would be appreciated.

[jeffandnicole]

Everything you need to know will be provided to you by that sort of an asshole boss or your workplace.  While we all have our preferences, every agency has their own policies and regulations.  Your organization's policies will have everything already stated in what to do, where to get it from, where to place it, etc, etc, etc, right down to the size of the nut and bolt used to secure the sign.  In larger states, what they do in one county in the southern part of the state may be completely different than what they do in the northern part of the state.

The policies are probably hundreds of pages long.  Happy reading!!

And welcome to the boards.  If you continue to read throughout these boards, you'll probably find plenty of enjoyable information to read.  And some of it may be useful...to review further, if you decide to inform your employer should you see a massive issue.  However, what we like, what we want, and what we prefer will be useless, as FDOT's policies supersede anything you'll read here.

[Brian556]

I used to be a TxDOT sign technician.

Who are you working for? FDOT or Miami-Dade County?

[formulanone]

Do you know Spanish? Miami-Dade County's lingua franca is Spanglish. When I worked down there, it helps in a pinch.

Or just Yiddish++, because the temperatures might make you shvitz and plotz, frying your internals.

[streetsignsam]

Do you know Spanish? Miami-Dade County's lingua franca is Spanglish. When I worked down there, it helps in a pinch.

Or just Yiddish++, because the temperatures might make you shvitz and plotz, frying your internals.

I know a fair amount of Spanish but most I speak broken spanglish, which is good because most Spanish speaking people don't like when you try to mimic their language exactly and I don't like offending people often. Also, most of the aluminum signs I need are highway overpass and speed limit signs. I have to install over 100,000 signs. Someone has suggested I buy wholesale aluminum signs.

[kkt]

Do I have any advice?  Yes.  My advice is not to call your boss an asshole on a public forum.  Or, really, anywhere.

[Duke87]

Speed limit signs are identical except for the numbers, so yes, those make sense to buy in bulk ("wholesale").

By "highway overpass" signs, do you mean signs showing the vertical clearance? Or overhead guide signage (e.g. "Exit 3, Smith St, 1/2 mile")?

[sparker]

This is the break I have been waiting for at FL DOT.. At least I think it might be. Anyways, I have never been in charge of a thing like this and I am excited, but nervous. My boss is sort of an asshole too and hard to make happy so hopefully he doesn't read this and get perturbed. Searching got me here. Do I have what I intended to find?

Have any of you on this board been in charge of putting a bunch of aluminum signs up for traffic control in some area? What was it like and where did you find the best deal? I saw these guys who say they do wholesale aluminum signs. Did you learn anything about regulations that I need to look out for? Is there asparagus in your mother's freezer? Lol jk but yea any and all help would be appreciated.

If you're working for FL DOT or even a local agency, why would you have to actually purchase signage; wouldn't you simply requisition it from either the agency charged with manufacturing/assembling them or a private contractor commissioned to make the signs to spec?  Now -- if you yourself are an independent contractor functioning in a manner not unlike a "design-build" scheme -- where you supply the signage as part of an omnibus contract -- you had better familiarize yourself with the latest MUTCD standards; otherwise, you'll be replacing your signs (under "warranty") on a pretty regular basis! 

[Scott5114]

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/

This is your bible. If your boss comes after you about anything and you can quote the MUTCD with chapter and verse, you will probably be okay. The MUTCD governs every traffic sign in the United States, so that's the foundation of what you're going to be doing. There are likely agency-specific requirements that add on to that, but nobody ever got fired for following the vanilla MUTCD. Probably.

Most every large organization–public or private sector–will have a list of approved suppliers. That's where you need to start with procurement.  You should also have some idea of what is out there and where, and what needs to be replaced. There's no need to order a new sign for every intersection if most of them were replaced 5 years ago.

If you get into a tricky situation you're not really sure how to sign, post a question here. Chances are good someone has seen a similar situation in another state and can share how another agency handled the problem. Keep in mind most of us are not PEs and only know what's right from a hobbyist level, however.

[cpzilliacus]

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/

This is your bible. If your boss comes after you about anything and you can quote the MUTCD with chapter and verse, you will probably be okay. The MUTCD governs every traffic sign in the United States, so that's the foundation of what you're going to be doing. There are likely agency-specific requirements that add on to that, but nobody ever got fired for following the vanilla MUTCD. Probably.

There does not appear to be a Florida MUTCD Supplement, but there's this on the Florida DOT Web site.

[streetsignsam]

If you're working for FL DOT or even a local agency, why would you have to actually purchase signage; wouldn't you simply requisition it from either the agency charged with manufacturing/assembling them or a private contractor commissioned to make the signs to spec?  Now -- if you yourself are an independent contractor functioning in a manner not unlike a "design-build" scheme -- where you supply the signage as part of an omnibus contract -- you had better familiarize yourself with the latest MUTCD standards; otherwise, you'll be replacing your signs (under "warranty") on a pretty regular basis!

Yea, I don't want to end up like THIS guy. lmao!

[NE2]

What the fuck is the "city of Dade Co"?

[sparker]

What the fuck is the "city of Dade Co"?

In less direct terms, I was wondering about that myself. To Sam:  Is your contract with Dade County or one of the cities within the county?  Either way, get a copy of the MUTCD for yourself -- and make sure the jurisdiction employing you has a clear understanding of that standards guide and is not requiring you to significantly deviate from it, or you may find yourself behind a legal & financial 8-ball! 

[Brian556]

Quote from NE2:

What the fuck is the "city of Dade Co"?

NE2, I've actually wondered if this topic was a prank from you

[jwolfer]

What the fuck is the "city of Dade Co"?

Its been officially Miami-Dade County since 1997. I would think aomeone hired would get the name right

LGMS428