Washington State - Detecting on City Roads under construction

[greengold]

Hi there, I am in Washington state and live near a small city that is currently digging up a whole street for a major project. It is a small town with a lot of history and I was thinking of asking the Mayor's permission. Do I need to? or is it considered public property? I recall the grass strips on the side of city streets in Seattle are fair game, but what about the road itself? I would of course me digging "after hours" -thanks

 

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[Smooth Blend]

as long as there isn't a closed fence and a "KEEP OUT" sign, i'm going in. haha

but,I suppose it would be a wise decision to ask.

 

[cudamark]

Hi there, I am in Washington state and live near a small city that is currently digging up a whole street for a major project. It is a small town with a lot of history and I was thinking of asking the Mayor's permission. Do I need to? or is it considered public property? I recall the grass strips on the side of city streets in Seattle are fair game, but what about the road itself? I would of course me digging "after hours" -thanks

What do you think the Mayor would say? Sure, go ahead? Not likely, unless he's one of your relatives. If there is no guard and it's not posted to keep out, I'd hunt it. After working hours, of course. Asking ANYBODY about hunting that area would be asking for a big "NO". They're not going to stick their neck out or put their job on the line just to let you detect.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Hi there, I am in Washington state and live near a small city that is currently digging up a whole street for a major project. It is a small town with a lot of history and I was thinking of asking the Mayor's permission. Do I need to? or is it considered public property? I recall the grass strips on the side of city streets in Seattle are fair game, but what about the road itself? I would of course me digging "after hours" -thanks

I agree with the two answers you've gotten so far. If you go ask some desk-bound bureaucrat, you're going to risk the "no one cared TILL you asked" psychology.

And sure, there may be the obligatory orange cones and (gasp) even some yellow ribbons around the site. But I'd just go. I've hunted scores of street and sidewalk demolitions (be sure to hit it before fill-dirt/gravel is added, and before the scrape too deep), and not had a problem. Oh sure, if I'm there in broad daylight, or getting too close to crews, sure someone may say something. Oh well. Just go after 5pm.

A final note: street tearouts, even if in old parts of town, might not truly be going down to native terra-firma. They may just be grinding in to the asphalt, but not have gone down beneath the DG (decomposed granite) bed/compaction layer. You should be able to tell by the color of the soil. It's it's truly native soil to your area, versus old compaction layer. That's why street grind-outs are usually not productive. Sidewalks, on the other hand, only carry pedestrian weight (not vehicles), so they were often laid right on top of dirt (or literally over the top of the wooden sidewalks!) back in the day when they first went down.

 

[cudamark]

I agree with Tom that the sidewalk area would be better than the actual street. If, like most of my area, the street was paved from day 1, there will be nothing under it....zip, zero, nada. If it was a dirt street in it's past, there could be some goodies. See if you can find where they dump the tearout. I've found some old coins in that too.

 

[greengold]

Thanks for suggestions fellas! The street was dirt at one time, but i agree the sidewalks would be better. Time to find the tear out dump site, guess i will be following some dumptrucks!