Is there any plausible reason such arrows would be broken up on purpose? In my mind, I would want more things like this to exist; large physical failsafe markers seem like a great idea.
These arrows, probably not so much, as they are pretty much all in the middle of nowhere. However, general concrete recycling is useful because breaking up existing, unused concrete for works projects tends to be cheaper than, and is more environmentally friendly than, quarrying.
To somewhat over-simplify, concrete is made from three things: Cement, large aggregate (big rocks), and small aggregate (little rocks). Broken up concrete works pretty well as large aggregate.
But planes and pilots can take short cuts over mountains and terrain that railroads have to go around. Navigating these shorter routes might have been harder but would definitely be worth it in fuel and time savings
The arrows and beacons were designed for night usage, where it's a lot harder to see railroad tracks. The arrows themselves seem to be much more the supplemental part of the system, to give a general idea where the next beacon's going to be.
It was often hard to tell these features apart from up in the air. There are many instances of pilots losing races because they followed the wrong rail line. For a really in-depth history of pre-electronic navigation, check out "Most Probable Position" by Wright,
http://www.amazon.com/Most-Probable-Position-History-Navigat...
We had a tower with light in my town. We're right on the Pacific coast to the tower was inland and behind a hill so it couldn't be mistaken for a lighthouse by passing ships.
The tower and shed are still there and are used for communication antennas.
Lighthouses are regularly used for navigation, so they need to have almost guaranteed up-time. Don't think that would always be the case for these particular kinds of lights.
> since navigation charts of the day were fugazi...
OT but Fugazi is the name of one of my favorite bands. In interviews I had read that the word meant "a fucked up situation" but until now I had never seen it actually used that way. Interesting choice of words, interesting article too!
I heard it used that way from growing up on Military posts. It just means any fucked up situation. I'm not sure it's known, but I was told it was made popular by troops in Vietnam. The most interesting theory I've seen is that it may derive from fougasse (“land mine”). All of that said, it makes one of the best band names ever.
I wonder what semi permanent structures we are building now that future generations will be looking at in 80+ years and wondering about our archaic technology.
The waste water storage tanks at the Fukushima nuclear plant will probably still be around and contaminated 80 years from now. Although I suspect that isn't exactly what you had in mind.
Possibly a lot of traffic structures, since vehicles and transportation may be largely computer-controlled by then, which would re-shape any related infrastructure that has "just made sense" to us in recent history
If we had the government make concrete arrows like that today, they would be cracked into rubble in three years because the contractor cut as many corners as they could. (Sorry, My cynical, the past was so much better moment for today)
The link at the end to concrete recycling is fascinating - having demolished 100 ton of concrete and steel in the back yard in the last year, it sounds great to have a largely mess free system.
Unfortunately, it's a student design concept, not an actual product. (This means there are likely to be major functional flaws in the design, as feasibility is generally not a consideration in these design competitions.)
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 123 ms ] threadTo somewhat over-simplify, concrete is made from three things: Cement, large aggregate (big rocks), and small aggregate (little rocks). Broken up concrete works pretty well as large aggregate.
The tower and shed are still there and are used for communication antennas.
I wonder why they didn't just put it on ship maps as an additional lighthouse.
http://mthistoryrevealed.blogspot.com/2013/03/guiding-lights...
OT but Fugazi is the name of one of my favorite bands. In interviews I had read that the word meant "a fucked up situation" but until now I had never seen it actually used that way. Interesting choice of words, interesting article too!
Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In.
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=gplus-ogsb&ie=UTF8&oe...
Uses GPS system to get home
;)
[1] http://www.clui.org/newsletter/winter-2013/photo-calibration...
Does anyone know of other cool, historical things like this we could hunt for?