Bolts And Nuts: Helping Road Signs Last Longer
Road signs are easy to take for granted, but they are some of the most important elements of any highway. If you are in charge of the civil engineering in any part of the world, it therefore makes sense for you to try and do as much as you can to ensure that they help motorists without being too costly to maintain.
The role of fasteners
One of the factors you will need to address in order to achieve this is the quality of the fasteners you use in putting up the road signs. These are usually some of the most important elements of any road sign, and so should not be chosen randomly if you are interested in extending the longevity of the road signs. Usually, if the fasteners end up becoming damaged due to any reason, the road sign itself usually becomes damaged as well. With time, you may find yourself having to replace an entire road sign simply because of poor fastener choices.
How to select the best fasteners
To this end, it is important to note that random selection of fasteners for the road signs should not be encouraged. One should always develop a systematic approach in making such a decision. This involves first finding out the optimal characteristics of the fasteners for a particular application, and then finding out which types come close to providing such features.
When doing this, you may need help from various quarters, most importantly from the company you intend to buy the fasteners from. Once you have told them about the qualities you are looking for in the fasteners, they should be in a position to identify the best ones to fit your needs. This requires intimate knowledge of the characteristics of various materials and technologies used in manufacturing the fasteners.
What factors should influence your decision?
If you are keen on getting fasteners that will make the road signs last longer, you only need to think about the factors that will increase the rate of degradation of the fasteners. For instance, if you are getting signs for a road that is by the coast, you would be worried about corrosion. To this end, it would be wise to get fasteners that will not be affected by this, such as aluminum hex head cap screws. You can also buy products such as steel hex nuts, but then make sure that they are properly treated to ensure that they are not subjected to such corrosion.
Weight can also be a consideration in some cases. To reduce the chances of a sign toppling over, you could use light weight fasteners for the top of the sign, and more heavy ones at the bottom. This shifts the center of gravity of the entire structure to the bottom, which will make it more stable. This way, elements such as strong winds are less likely to push the sign over. Lastly, you also need to use fasteners to anchor the sign to the ground beneath. This is important since it also reduces the risk of having the road sign become detached easily.
