Mysterious Markings Show Up On Roads in Rabbs Prairie and O’Quinn

Some mysterious markings recently appeared on County roads in the area. They appear to be related to some type of survey.

Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom said he first noticed the markings on roads in the Rabbs Prairie area. They feature a cross painted in white with an unpainted square section in the middle. At the very center of the unpainted square there appears to be a metal survey peg hammered into the pavement. The pegs are marked with the letters G, M and A.

Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff said identical markers appeared on two of his roads as well: Creamer Creek Rd and Valenta Rd. Berckenhoff said one of his employees was shredding the ditches on Valenta Rd. recently and noticed survey equipment set up in the middle of the road with some orange cones around it. He said an unmarked vehicle was parked nearby with no one around. When the employee returned a few hours later, the pickup and survey equipment were gone.

Both McBroom and Berckenhoff said no one has contacted them about conducting a survey on the roads. The markers in Pct. 1 and Pct. 3 lie nearly eight miles apart with the Colorado River between them.

Several years ago, during planning for an Interstate 10 expansion project, a survey crew using helicopters painted chevron-shaped markers on several roads in the southern part of the County. Those markings mystified locals for a few days until the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) explained the matter.

This time around, a representative from TxDOT told the Record on Wednesday that their local engineer did not know what the markings were. The representative said they would reach out to Tx-DOT’s bridge and utility division to see if they knew what the markings were for.