Ken Tyacke, of the city of Marysville Public Works Department, makes one of several stops on Cedar Avenue Jan 23, to map out its features with the device attached to the cab of his car. - Kirk Boxleitner
Kirk Boxleitner
Ken Tyacke, of the city of Marysville Public Works Department, makes one of several stops on Cedar Avenue Jan 23, to map out its features with the device attached to the cab of his car.

City surveys streets electronically

By KIRK BOXLEITNER
Marysville Globe Reporter
January 23, 2009 · 3:56 PM

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MARYSVILLE — Marysville residents might have spotted a unique vehicle making its rounds through much of the city recently.

A city of Marysville Public Works Department car, outfitted with a small but distinctive piece of electronic equipment atop its cab, had surveyed roughly 65 percent of the city's streets by Jan. 23, when it drove past The Marysville Globe offices on Cedar Avenue.

"This GPS unit maps out things like wheelchair ramps, patches of grass, cracks in the sidewalk and other features," said Ken Tyacke, the car's driver and an employee of the city's streets department. "That data then gets fed into a computer, which helps us plan out which areas of maintenance and improvement need to be taken care of first."

Looking ahead to the following week, Tyacke anticipated that the downtown streets would require more time to survey, since their advanced age results in a greater number of features to scan, whereas with relatively newer areas, "I was done with the Costco pretty quick."

As of press time, Tyacke expected to complete his work within another week.

Contact Marysville Globe Reporter Kirk Boxleitner at kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com or 360-659-1300 Ext. 5052.

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