CALTRANS TRIES TO FOIL BRIDGE-RAILING THEFTS.Byline: Ernest E. Pund Riverside Press-Enterprise Thieves who have been stealing aluminum bridge railings from state highways in Riverside and San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. counties may be in for a surprise. Caltrans officials say they suspect the thieves have been taking the tubing for its scrap value scrap value See residual value. , which is about 50 cents a pound. So they are replacing the looted loot n. 1. Valuables pillaged in time of war; spoils. 2. Stolen goods. 3. Informal Goods illicitly obtained, as by bribery. 4. sections with galvanized gal·va·nize tr.v. gal·va·nized, gal·va·niz·ing, gal·va·niz·es 1. To stimulate or shock with an electric current. 2. steel, which is relatively worthless as scrap, about $2 a ton. Mike Miles, Caltrans maintenance chief, said the thieves apparently have not figured that out - they took some of that, too. About $50,000 worth of aluminum bridge railing has been stolen in the past six months, said Miles, who oversees maintenance in the two counties. The thieves appear to be cutting the railing with power tools - leaving metal shavings - and hauling it away in a truck. Caltrans workers tried to protect the railings by gluing the bolts with epoxy epoxy Any of a class of thermosetting polymers, polyethers built up from monomers with an ether group that takes the form of a three-membered epoxide ring. The familiar two-part epoxy adhesives consist of a resin with epoxide rings at the ends of its molecules and a curing , but the thieves just cut off the bolts. In addition to being costly, the loss is dangerous, leaving exposed railing ends that might pierce a car in an accident. Caltrans is not the only target. More than $10,000 worth of aluminum railing was stolen from the city of Calimesa in August. |
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