 Shopping for new ideas? For maintenance? Engineering? Communication? Equipment? Administration? Training? Safety? If you are, then welcome to the Idea Store. A store whose stock and trade is imagination. Raining heart. And where does all that water go? A lot comes down private driveways and out on the roadway. Creating problems for motorists and maintenance crews. Summer and winter. Commercially purchased grates don't seem to be the answer. Too expensive. And cross-drain pipes still get squashed. George Broschers of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania is planning to build grates based on these models. The pictured model is two feet long, seven inches high and five inches wide. When constructed out of steel, the steel should be at least one-eighth inch thick and painted after welding. If anyone tries this approach or would like more information, call or write to George. Post Office Box 385, Punx-a-20, Pennsylvania, 15767, Area Code 814-938-6300. We'll report on this as we hear about the progress. Speaking of water and the problems it can cause, slush snow and ice build up around the drive wheels of plow trucks during storms. The accumulation can weigh over a ton, so a fully loaded truck could be over safe axle and tire capacity. Use more fuel and get greater wear. Herb Calvin, California Transportation, suggested covering the underbed with a flat surface. Two-by-twelve boards were installed, supported by two-inch angle iron welded to the bed. To replace damaged boards, bend the bars, remove, replace, and relock the tabs. Observations during storms told Caltrans that this worked. For further information, contact Ed Riley, Caltrans, Bishop, California, Area Code 619-873-3571. After a road is resurfaced, getting the side ditches up to the new height can be a problem. This is the cross conveyor, the brainchild of Galen Heckman, Peters Township, Pennsylvania. Used for placing material in ditches, it is chained to the truck tailgate. Once at the work side, it is lowered to the ground and filled with material from the truck. Note the endless belt powered by the truck's hydraulic system. The belt moves the material to the drop chute at the left. This pneumatic pump keeps pressure on a strike plate that regulates the material flow. The truck's variable speed hydraulic system allows the operator to adjust the speed of the endless belt, and the truck's air system gives him control of the pneumatic pump. And you get a finished product like this before compacting. For detailed information on the cross conveyor, contact Galen Heckman, Secretary, Peters Township, 5,000 Steel Avenue, Post Office Box 88, La Master, Pennsylvania, 1-7-2-3-1. In Idea Store 2, there was a feature on how to determine aggregate loss on blading operations. Here's an idea on minimizing that loss. Pieces cut from old plow blades are bolted over the moldboard blade, resulting in a flatter windrow and less material loss. Contact Don Linden at Box 368, Storm Lake, Iowa, 505-88, or call him at area code 712-749-2540. Tires go bad, so you throw them away. Let's look at some ways to use them again. Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation through its Office of Materials and Research has published information on using discarded tires and other salvaged materials in highway applications. For shoulder reinforcement and channel slope protection, using discarded tires or other salvaged material requires no special equipment, can be done by local forces, and is more economical than many alternate methods. In Idea Store 3, we feature the pre-canned concrete walls from Pike County, Kentucky as another type of slope protection. Now Caltrans with another approach. The ideas are out there to help you. For further information on the uses of discarded tires, contact Mr. Bennett John, Office of Materials and Research, Caltrans. 5900 Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento, California 45819, or call him at area code 916-739-2417. Sometimes due to an emergency, a local road has to be closed quickly. Lattimore Township, Pennsylvania has developed an easy-to-use portable sign display for this purpose. Here it is being demonstrated by two people, but it can be done by one person. Two by fours, angle iron, reflectorized paint on the stripe boards, and a road closed sign. Inexpensive, easy-to-use, and effective. For more information, contact Gene Croft, Post Office Box 218, York Springs, Lattimore Township, Pennsylvania, or call area code 717-528-4614. We get a lot of newsletters from a lot of T-square centers. We don't always get a lot of submissions for the Idea Store. So once again, tell us who you are. Better yet, send us a picture. Give us a good description of what your idea is. Show us the where at the locale of the idea is important. Why was the idea done? For reasons of safety, cost benefits, etc. How do you do it? Show us step by step. Provide plans, pictures, whatever you think we might need to understand what it is you want us to understand. Send your idea to your Technology Transfer Center for evaluation. Thanks for shopping at the Idea Store. Until next time, remember an idea never shared is an idea never appreciated.