Tuesday, February 11th 2020.
Today I got my cubicle. In the morning I came in and they gave me my cubicle and I was just doing work for about an hour. I then met David and he is a civil engineer. He met with me and he explained to me what he does for TxDOT. He is in charge of the road signs and where they belong, etc. We went over the manual and he showed me all types of road signs. After going through the whole manual, I was then introduced with Cynthia. Cynthia showed me the software she uses to actually make the signs which is what she does. She described how she uses her software program to show where the new sign placements are going to be, and she explained why they are those signs and not a different one. Then, she made me a sign with my name and my age as the exit number. After Cynthia, I went to talk to John. John is in charge of the speed limit signs. He was talking to me about how they have to analyze and record data by the 85th percentile in order to change a speed limit. He showed me the software he uses that shows him where all the speed limits are in the whole state of Texas. After meeting with John, I then met with Adrian. He was also with the speed limits section. He taught me that when they analyze the 85th percentile if the average speed is more than 5 miles than the current speed that they can’t change it unless they have a different reason for it. He then showed me all the catchy slogans that appear on the road signs about texting while driving and driving while impaired. After they didn’t have anything for me to do so I came to work and update my blog posts in my cubicle. After lunch, I met with Hayde. She introduced me to what she does which is also signs. They have certain rules that they need to follow in order to make a sign for example the size of the sign, fonts, and spacing. She then let me create my own read sign which was fun. After talking to Hayde, I met with Dustin and he showed me the different types of incorrect signs. His job is to go around the state of Texas and find signs that are incorrect and report them. I learned that even a sign being misplaced can have a big impact on everyone safety. They also showed me a real barrel. They are much bigger in person than when you are driving by them on the road. They also showed me a huge sign and it’s crazy because when you drive by them they look so small compared to in real life. I then met their supervisor Doug, and he broke down everything else they do.
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