The engineer in charge of maintaining paved and dirt roads in Lancaster County has a cool new tool in his arsenal: a gigantic, 6-foot-long, high-powered magnet that will help save tires on dirt roads.
The magnet, which attaches to the back of a truck, picked up more than 22 pounds of nails, screws, nuts and bolts during a recent trip down nine miles of county roads.
It was enough to fill a restaurant-sized pickle jar.
"This stuff is on the surface of road you're traveling," county Engineer Don Thomas said. "That's all got potential to end up in your tires."
Thomas had no idea the magnet would pick up that much metal. The worst offender was roofing nails.
The plan is to buy three 8-foot magnets at $500 each to have one for each of the four county divisions. That way, every county road will get a once-over, Thomas said.
He said he learned about the magnet and another new tool at a recent conference.
The second, a menacing machine with discs along an extended arm called a retriever, will grab extra gravel and rocks from the sides of roads and spread it along the shoulders.
As roads get bladed during the winter, Thomas said, rock is pushed to the side, creating a ridge or lip there and creating water drainage problems.
The machine also helps save money because the county won't have to buy as much rock to replace that which gets pushed to the side, he said.
The department has one retriever, which cost $8,000, but wants to buy three more, one for each district.