Who's up for a good mystery?

[Cameramonkey]

 

[yote hunter]

 

[Tactically Fat]

I took a trip up 65 to lafayette today.

I was able to see a few "plusses" made out of blue plastic "laths" woven into the fence. They weren't evenly spaced that I could tell (well, the ones I could see weren't)

As I was driving up, I was thinking about this and what they could be. I was all prepared to presume that they may be drain locations... But I wasn't aware that they marked those on the fence. I've seen plenty that are marked with those "drive-over-able" white plastic 4' tall posts, but none that I'd recall seeing with the blue plus signs on the fences.

I'll need to pay more attention to this, too.

 

[ScouT6a]

I don't think that it is a conspiracy theory, aliens or NATO. There is a logical explanation, I'm sure. I studied these for quite some time and talked with a lot of county and state agencies. I think if it was as simple as storm drains, someone would have offered it up.
I was home sick with the stomach flu today so I couldn't get any pictures.

 

[Doug]

/Threadjack

Funny you mention that... my buddy used to live in FL. I went to visit one time and we were out driving around (maybe it was the night we went shooting) and I asked him about the reflectors in the street. There were random blue reflectors in the street (like the centerline reflectors). He had no idea what they were... I studied them for a bit, and then it hit me. Every place there was a blue reflector there was also a fire-hydrant... Growing up in small-town america it was a totally foreign concept to me; everybody knew where every fire-hydrant in my home town was...

Wow!
Both of them?

 

[Bill of Rights]

...I noticed these blue slats woven into the State's right away fence....

What exactly is that? I know what a right-of-way fence is, but I've never heard of this thing.

No offense meant, it's just that the term was doing fingernails on a chalkboard in my brain.

Carry on.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[ScouT6a]

Bill, I am sure most people would never notice these things but I am not normal. Along I-74, the State's right of way fence is off the side of the road, usually with farm fields on the other side or a frontage road.
I started noticing these approximately 4" wide blue slats woven into the "cattle" type fence. Like these: | __| |__ T --|-- --| |--
Random distances apart. Random configuration. Random locations. Then they started appearing on the I-65 corridor and then SR-63. Morning, noon, evening, middle of the night, weekdays or weekends. I have never seen anyone putting them in.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Wow!
Both of them?

There was only one...

 

[12bee]

Maybe a bunch were broke and they only had blue ones to replace the broken ones.

 

[Morgan88]

JMHO and 35 years experience.
The T and L and the like I would guess indicate the direction the runs go from the outlet. A T would indicate the run goes both ways. An L would indicate the run goes which ever direction the L leg goes. Dare I speculate uphill?
Lots of times kids tear them out of the fence and weather wears them out so the random could be just that.

 

[Morgan88]

JMHO and 30 years experience
It is black plastic corrugated drain tile like farmers use wrapped in filter cloth in a trench 14 inch's wide by 30 inch's deep filled with #8 gravel. Typically they are about 1.5 ft outside the white line on the right outside lane and 1.5 ft outside the yellow line of the inside lane running longitudinally . Sometimes there is no open ditch to outlet them in so they outlet them into the storm drains. Thus there wouldn't be a blue lath in the fence. The water migrates down thru worn out joints in the road and random cracks that develop over time.

 

[CathyInBlue]

Col. Mustard in the kitchen with the candelabra!

Oh, not that kind of mystery.

If you're talking about the fence between the highway right of way and abutting private lands, I thought they were put there by the farmers whose fields were right there to aim for when running their machinery long distances with no other distant landmarks to aim for, and to delineate one type of crop from another, even when the field is a single major type, such as one hybrid of corn from another.

Since they're placed by individual farmers for their particular needs, their patterns and spacings/placements would seem random unless you're that particular farmer.

 

[96firephoenix]

Col. Mustard in the kitchen with the candelabra!

Oh, not that kind of mystery.

If you're talking about the fence between the highway right of way and abutting private lands, I thought they were put there by the farmers whose fields were right there to aim for when running their machinery long distances with no other distant landmarks to aim for, and to delineate one type of crop from another, even when the field is a single major type, such as one hybrid of corn from another.

Since they're placed by individual farmers for their particular needs, their patterns and spacings/placements would seem random unless you're that particular farmer.

So you're saying that Tractor Supply Co. or the Co-Op sells them only in blue? I don't buy that...

 

[Snapdragon]

Sounds like whoever built the fence was a Tetris fan.

 

[CathyInBlue]

I certainly haven't seen the markings in the fence that I'm talking about only in blue. I'm sure I've seen them in all sorts of colors. Sometimes with retroreflective properties, sometimes not.

 

[ScouT6a]

Cathyinblue, I actually like the sound of your theory but, some correct me if I am wrong, I think the Auto Track systems that farmers use these days run off GPS so they wouldn't need a visual marker at the end of the field. Also they could only see them when the crops were out. These are all in the same color of blue and they have no reflective properties.

Morgan88's explanation seems the most logical. I still want to take a closer look.

 

[Tactically Fat]

I'll be heading out I-74 towards Montgomery county tomorrow. I'll look for these.

north side of interstate or south side? If south side - I won't be able to see them as it'll be dark on my return trip.

If you can manage to stop and get photos, I really will pass them along to folks I know at INDOT.

 

[Morgan88]

Then again
Maybe it was Klaattu and Bibendum. They sneak in at nite and place them as part of the advance invasion party. :-) Remember "Klaattu barada nikto" ?

 

[CathyInBlue]

My theory was just something I came up with a long time ago, before the advent of GPS guided combines. It could have been completely out to lunch then too.

 

[Informed Decision]

I have called downtown several times & they have told me where the sewer lines run out of houses & dump into the city sewer system, so I can't see using a potentially temporary item such as a fence to mark location of a permanent item such as a drain. It is marked in a computer program somewhere . The farmer idea actually makes more sense cause if you're plowing a field, long distance marking would help. Though the farmer would run all night so it would make sense that the markers be reflective, which they apparently are not. Question that comes up for me is... What is on the opposite side of the fence? Is it farm fields or random? I believe it is non INDOT related. Yep.. Aliens