Thing: Steel plates and pylons

>> A look at the two most basic pieces of public works equipment

By PHILIP PREVILLE

It's one of the most familiar scenes for Montreal motorists: a big plate covering a massive crater in the road, usually marked by orange pylons, also known as traffic cones. A steel sheet and a plastic cone: what could be simpler, you ask? Think again. There's more to this equipment than meets the eye.

Pylons must be heavy enough to stay standing in winds of up to 60 km/h; they are weighted at the bottom and weigh anywhere between 15 and 20 pounds. There are two standard pylon sizes in North America, the two-foot and three-foot high models, but for reasons of safety the Ministry of Transport has decreed that there shall be no two-foot pylons used for Quebec road repairs. And they must be made of sturdy, dense plastic--which means they are never made of recycled plastic, renowned for its imperfections and its uneven density. The city has at least 30,000 pylons in its inventory; all 500 city trucks are equipped with at least a half-dozen of them as a matter of policy.

Steel plates come in three sizes: small (5' x 8'), medium (8' x 10') and large (10' x 10'); they are usually about one inch thick. A small plate weighs over 1.5 tons; a large weighs up to four tons. (For blue collar crews, these things scream "safety hazard.") The plates must be strong enough to support the weight of a transit bus full of people, which means adding carbon and other materials to the molten steel for increased strength. The city has 18 specialized trucks equipped with cranes, whose sole job is to handle the 300 plates in inventory; the plates are lifted with a special claw that grips the two holes in the middle of the plate.

Final factoid: Urban miscreants love to steal public works equipment. At least 1,000 pylons are stolen each year (another 1,000 are run over by cars or crushed by public works equipment). Not much can be done to prevent pylon theft, so the city buys about 2,000 new ones each year at a cost of about $15 apiece. Theft of steel plates is rare ("It's a great way to ruin your pickup truck," says public works official Yvan Nicholls), but it happens. Prevention method: using a soldering iron, they etch the letters "V de M" in lead on each one. :