USA on the Street

Whatever you thought this post would be about, given the title, you’re probably wrong.

When I’m out on my bike, I always wonder about the spray-painted words and lines on the street. One of the most common, and yet most mysterious, scrawlings was “USA”. Often, I see “USA” painted on the street next to an arrow. It seemed as if I had somehow been re-located just outside of the country temporarily, but if I would only cross the street, I could regain my ability to vote using a faulty device manufactured by Diebold.

After seeing “USA” many times near manhole covers, I decided that it must mean Underground Sewer Access. That was never a satisfying answer, though, since spray-painted letters on the asphalt seemed like such a crude way to identify sewer entrances. Well, a short article in last September’s Wired on
Urban Markup Language has set me straight. USA is actually an abbreviation for Underground Service Alert.

And the color of the paint doesn’t happen to indicate what was on sale at Home Depot. Or at least usually not. Red means power lines, yellow is for oil or gas, blue is for fresh water, green is for sewage, purple is for reclaimed water, and orange is for communications or cable lines.