I'm a Civil Engineer and work for a DOT. Don't assume that we are in favor of going back to metric (although I am sure there are some that are secretly happy). Most of us are fine with metric and very comfortable. The frustrating part is going to metric then back. Going back has ruined it for my generation as no one will be willing to swallow that pill again.
The reason we reverted is the fact that you can not convert part of an industry. Yes DOT's were building projects in metric but suppliers, contractors and the rest of the construction industry was still English (both private and public). Contractors complained that they had to build in two systems and things were confusing. Materials suppliers provided and materials in English for use on metric jobs or they had to keep two sets of standards, one for each client. The chance of error is high. Consultants provided English plans to private developers, some towns and City's then had to produce metric drawings for the DOT. Just like a language it's easy to learn if you submerged in it. If you only do a metric projects once every few years you have to relearn it each time. Yes it is easy to learn but unless you use it every day it can not, like anything else, become part of your fiber and second nature. It's always forced. Lesson learned: It's got to be all or nothing. -- "Go for a Metric America" Howard Ressel Project Design Engineer, Region 4 (585) 272-3372 >>> On 3/11/2009 at 9:11 PM, in message <[email protected]>, "Kim, Rich (ECY)" <[email protected]> wrote: > That's too bad AZ is changing I-19 back to FFU. I've never quite > understood why Departments of Transportation want to revert back to FFU. > Aren't they civil engineers? Aren't engineers supposed to be supportive > of the metric system with all the mathematical calculations they do on a > daily basis? > At my job when we changed to the North American Datum (NAD) 83, we used > feet instead of meters. Most of the reasoning was that the state DNR and > DOT, and the counties use feet for their GIS data; it seems to me, > engineers would want to use meters and hence metric system. > Based on what I've heard on changing highway and road signs, my guess is > that this is the area where we are going to hear the most howling from > the anti-metric Americans. Of course, there wasn't a peep about signs > when speed limits were raised from 55 mph. :-) > . ______________ > ____ | | RICH KIM, Spatial Database Administrator > \ | | | Washington State Department of Ecology, GIS > | // | P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, Washington USA 98504 > | * Olympia | Phone: (360) 407-6121; Fax: (360) 407-6493 > \ _____| E-Mail: [email protected] > `---------' http://www.ecy.wa.gov/services/gis/index.html > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [USMA:43690] Re: Subject changed to speedometers and odometers > From: "Norman & Nancy Werling" <[email protected]> > Date: Wed, March 11, 2009 5:19 pm > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > John M. Steele > Sat, 07 Mar 2009 06:48:49 -0800 > > This article > http://www.gvnews.com/articles/2009/03/06/breaking_news/00mileposts0308. > txt > reports that Arizona Dept. of Transportation will spend $1.5 million of > its > Federal economic stimulus money to remove the metric distance signs > along a 100 > km stretch of I-19. This will include removal of the metric and > rotation of > already placed Customary signs to face traffic. > > Perhaps not quite the way we hoped stimulus money would aid metrication. > > (On the other hand, being a leader for 30 years, with no follower or > plans for > followers is proabaly silly too.)
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 X-GWTYPE:USER FN:Ressel, Howard TEL;WORK:585-272-3372 ORG:;403-Design EMAIL;WORK;PREF;NGW:[email protected] N:Ressel;Howard ADR;DOM;WORK;PARCEL;POSTAL:;403;1530 Jefferson Road;Rochester;;14623 LABEL;DOM;WORK;PARCEL;POSTAL;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Ressel, Howard=0A= 403=0A= 1530 Jefferson Road=0A= Rochester 14623 END:VCARD
