The rainbow of markings in the Old Port - key to safe replacement of gas lines - elicits varied views.
Throughout the Old Port and parts of downtown, there is paint all over the streets and sidewalks. Yellow and orange and green and blue. Arrows pointing in all different directions, sometimes accompanied by letters and numbers.
The markings look like indecipherable hieroglyphics to some, and sidewalk graffiti to others -- if people notice them at all.
"I didn't really pay much attention, but I guess it makes the city look a little dirtier," said Gretchen Bates, 27, who was visiting Maine from Georgia and walking down Exchange Street on Sunday. "So, what does it all mean?"
To visitors, the paint means nothing, but to the utility crews that are tearing up small sections of asphalt throughout the busy part of the city, the symbols form an essential road map for their work.
"Everything is color-coded," said Matt Doughty, project manager for Unitil, the natural gas company that is busy replacing century-old cast iron pipes underneath Portland's streets with newer plastic lines. "Yellow means gas, green is sewer, red electricity, and blue is water. The arrows tell you what direction the lines are running and approximately how wide they are."
The markings also are required under state law.
Before a contractor is cleared to dig in Maine, the company must contact DigSafe -- a regional nonprofit clearinghouse that notifies participating utilities -- at least 72 hours before machines move pavement. As part of the pre-work, contractors mark the streets and sidewalks to be certain of what they will encounter below ground...
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