They are the solution to the problem you never knew you had.

Plate Locks, an American manufactured product, are a direct replacement to using cold patch asphalt or flush mounting the plate. It is intended to reduce costs, work zone accidents, injuries and contractor liabilities by consistently marking, identifying and securing road construction plates. Plate Locks are placed around the perimeter of the road plate and mechanically fastened to the roadway with concrete anchors.

This innovative product makes cold patch trench plate securing a thing of the past and reduces your liability while increasing public safety. Never have another sleepless night wondering if your trench plates have shifted, or walked again. No more phone calls from the city, county or police during the wee hours of the morning telling you to come fix a trench plate that has moved and is posing a risk.

Plate Locks can be left in place when steel road plates are removed to allow work to be done in the trench or for inspections. When the work or inspection is done simply replace the steel plate. There is no need to reinstall the Plate Locks. Compare that to needing to replace cold patch every time the road plate is moved and you quickly see you have a winning alternative to traditional methods of securing trench plates.

Plate Locks increase safety for employees, motorists and cyclists while reducing liability. They are safety orange and can be clearly seen by motorists and bicyclists, easily alerting them to the steel road plate in their driving lane thus eliminating accidents. This has been said so many times…

Plate Locks pay for themselves the first time they’re used and will save you a lot of money in labor costs because they can be installed or removed in a fraction of the time it takes a crew to throw down or remove cold patch. And the best news is you can use them over and over again!

Every competition we have entered Plate Locks into we have won. And it’s no wonder. Plate Locks are revolutionary in the industry. It’s a simple solution to a problem every underground construction crew has faced. Road plates that creep or walk as traffic passes over them. Not only does this product stop that problem. But they also increase safety for your crew and drivers. They will save you money and time.

Pilot Rock Excavation

June 3, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:

This is an unqualified endorsement from Pilot Rock Excavation of Central Point, Oregon for the Plate Locks trench plate securing system. We have been using Plate Locks for about a year on several projects in Southern Oregon. Our previous practice for securing trench plates was to surround them with cold-mix asphalt. That old method has literally kept us awake at night with worry about plate walk in heavily traveled areas. Plate Locks has ended our worries about the trench plates moving and causing a serious accident.

Plate Locks is easier to use than asphalt. It is cleaner and more professional, in addition to being safer. An added safety benefit is the increased visibility of Plate Locks as motorists approach a plated area. That bright orange strip in or across the traffic lane causes most motorists to slow down when they otherwise might not. Plate Locks is durable and can be used over and over.   The savings over the cost of cold-mix asphalt and the labor to place it multiply every time we use Plate Locks.

We especially like the fact that Plate Locks can be left in place while work is performed in the trench. At the end of the day the plates can simply be placed back over the trench and the Plate Locks will hold it in place until access to the trench is needed again.

The comments we receive on our trench plates are complimentary now that we are using Plate Locks instead of asphalt. We also like the idea that Plate Locks is a recyclable, non-polluting product. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for cold-mix asphalt.

Plate Locks has made our jobsites safer, less worrisome and less expensive. We encourage anyone engaged in utility construction or repair work in traffic situations to try Plate Locks.

Rand LeBaron, President
Rilot Rock Excavation

Plate Locks are a national WINNER of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association Foundation’s-

Roadway Work Zone Safety Awareness Award – Innovations in Technology/Product

NUCA’s

Utility Contractor Magazine, December 2011 named PLATE LOCKS among the “10 Utility Construction Machines and Technologies Changing the Industry”. In the article The Next Evolution in Innovation,  NUCA’s story stated “We can’t include every piece of great equipment, but we’ve brought the best of these new releases right here to our 2011 Innovations Showcase”.

How Much Did You Spend On Cold Mix Last Year?

$1,000? $5,000? Tens of thousands of dollars?

Now add the labor costs of applying cold patch plus the labor costs of removing and reapplying cold mix every time a plate needs to be moved. You’ll quickly realize you’re spending way too much money on a product that was never manufactured, designed or intended to be a road plate securing device.

How Many Complaints From The City Or General Public Did You Receive Last Year About Your Steel Road Plates?

We bet the most common ones were:

• The plate shifting
• Tire punctured
• Rims damaged
• Motorcyclists or bicyclists wrecking due to cold mix build up on the steel plate
• Getting cold mix “goop” on their car
• Having a messy work area

Complaints are worrisome, time consuming and very frustrating.

The problem contractors have always faced is that there has never been an alternative to cold mix. It has always been the way every contractor, from generation to generation, has secured steel road construction plates. But cold mix was never manufactured, designed or intended to be a road plate securing device.

Introducing Plate Locks
The Best Way To Secure Steel Trench Plates

Plate Locks were designed and engineered to mark, identify and secure trench plates.

Plate Locks come with many benefits:

Easy and Fast To Install – Plate Locks can be installed in a fraction of the time it takes a crew to throw down and mold cold mix.

Save Money – You can use Plate Locks over and over again. Never pay for cold mix again. Plate Locks typically pay for themselves the first time you use them.

Never Need To Be Removed – Plate Locks never need to be removed while a trench plate does. This not only saves money in cold mix material costs but labor costs as well.

Employee Safety – Plate Locks are easily and quickly installed and help keep your crew safe by getting them out of the road sooner. And since they never need to be removed, your crew doesn’t need to spend any extra time removing and re-applying cold mix.

Public Safety – With their bright orange construction zone coloring, Plate Locks were specifically designed to alert motorists, and especially bicyclists, that there is a plate in the road. Secondly, there is never any build-up of cold mix on the plates, which poses serious hazards to all cyclists. The angled design allows easy on and easy off and no more punctured tires or damaged rims.

Reduce Liability – By getting rid of cold mix and preventing your plates from creeping or walking. The likelihood of an accident being caused by your trench plates decreases dramatically, thus reducing your liability.

Environmentally Friendly – Plate Locks can be used over and over again and can be recycled once they’ve reached the end of their life cycle. They will reduce your carbon footprint because you’ll be using hundreds or even thousands of gallons less of petroleum products. They also keep our streams and rivers clean because they have no toxic sediment or run-off like cold mix applications do.

Have questions? Give us a call. We would love to speak with you about this revolutionary product.

Don’t forget to read our testimonials. See what other utility contractors are saying about this product.

As a government agency, safety  for your citizens is one of the top concerns you face on a daily basis.

PLATE LOCKS are an innovative, sustainable, cost effective, national award winning solution to the many safety hazards associated with road plates and cold mix. Using Plate Locks to secure your road plates will give you the positive public recognition you deserve, turning public complaints into complements.

PLATE LOCKS were designed specifically to mark, identify and secure steel road construction trench plates which adds a huge safety component for cyclists.

PLATE LOCKS can be used over and over again and can be recycled once They’ve reached the end of their life cycle. They’ll reduce your town’s carbon footprint because you’ll be using hundreds or even thousands of gallons less of petroleum products. They also keep your streams and rivers clean because they have no toxic sediment or run-off like the cold mix applications that your crews are currently using.

PLATE LOCKS are a bike-friendly community’s best friend! With their bright orange construction zone coloring, they were specifically designed to alert motorists, and especially bicyclists, that there is a plate in the road. Secondly, there is never any build-up of cold mix on the plates, which poses serious hazards to all cyclists. The angled design allows easy transition on and off the road plate with no more possibility of sliding, skidding, or falling off a bicycle due to the slippery surface cold mix often creates on the plate. Last but not least, no more punctured tires or damaged rims.

Cold mix was never manufactured, designed or intended to be a road plate securing device, it just so happened that it was the only thing available at the time to get the job done. That was the past and PLATE LOCKS are the future. Save your cold mix for the potholes!

By specifying the PLATE LOCKS system you can avoid some of the following headlines from happening in your city:

• Did a Metal Construction Plate Cause Houston Street Bike Death? Gothamist June 27, 2006

• Delivery Van Hits Improperly Secured Roadway Construction Plate, Loses Control Striking Parked Vehicles. 3 Million Recovery. Clarke v City of New York, N.Y. March 18, 2002

• Bill Seeks Warning For Plates On Roads. Concern Over Safety of Cyclists and Damage To Vehicles Prompts The Measure’s Creation. Star Bulletin February 24, 2007

• Metal Plate Covering Road Construction Pose Nuisance For Drivers — and a Hazard For Cyclists Such as William Gardiner, who was killed when he hit one of the plates and was thrown from his bicycle as he commuted home from the University Of Texas. American Statesman November 21, 2000

It’s Not Just About Safety – Plate Locks  Create Sustainable Practices and Methodologies

In today’s world, it is more important than ever to be concerned with sustainability and to be practicing sustainable methods. City’s often proudly announce on their websites their accomplishments in sustainability and list their goals to become even more sustainable.

In 2008, The APWA – write out - board of directors created the “Center for Sustainability” branch to their association, recognizing the importance of sustainability in Public Works.

Here’s how Plate Locks can help your government achieve more sustainability in your underground public works projects while helping you save money as well.

Plate Locks Are:

• Reusable
• Recyclable
• Contain no VOC’s
• Environmentally sound.
• A Must for any bike-friendly community.
• Don’t produce petroleum run off or sediment that damages our sewers and streams.
• Create a safer and cleaner job site.
• Designed specifically to mark, identify and secure steel road plates.

You have the ability to require Plate Locks as part of your specs. Keep the citizens of your community safer and your environment cleaner by using Plate Locks in your community. We Can Help You Write Your Specifications.

Your company not only has to work with the public, but also the municipalities as well as the subcontractors that you hire to complete work on your systems. You want to be more responsible to our environment and to the safety of the public and your employees. PLATE LOCKS can help you achieve your goals and prove to the community and your peers that you will do your part to be environmentally responsible and to help promote public and worker safety. When you require the use of PLATE LOCKS on your construction sites you are proving just that!

PLATE LOCKS -

• Reduces labor costs in the installation and removal process of road plates because they install and remove significantly faster than using cold patch.
• Are designed with safety in mind for the construction worker and the public. They get the installer out of the roadway quickly and the highly visible safety orange color alerts motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to the installed road plates.
• The wedged shape design creates a smooth transition for the motorist and cyclist from the road surface, to the top of the plate, and back to the road surface.
• Are mechanically fastened to the roadway, preventing sliding and shifting of road plates, unlike cold patch, which depends solely on adhesion to the roadway.
• Are re-usable. The product pays for itself typically on its very first use versus cold patch asphalt material.
• Are made from an inert material, which contains no off gassing and is recyclable.
• Contains no pollutants that can enter into the air, and will not release harmful chemicals into our storm drains.

Remember – Cold mix was never manufactured, designed or intended to be a road plate securing device. PLATE LOCKS were designed for that specific purpose!

Make sure you specify PLATE LOCKS for all of your construction projects.

We can help you write your specifications, all you have to do is contact us.

In today’s world, it is more important than ever to be concerned with the environment, sustainability and to be practicing sustainable methods.

You need to not only be concerned about the safety of your employees and the public, but also about environmental safety.

By using Plate Locks to secure your trench plates, instead of cold mix, you can help keep streams and drinking water clean and healthy and our ozone layer strong.

By specifying Plate Locks for your construction jobs you will be obtaining sustainable benefits such as –

• Reusable and recyclable
• No VOC’s
• No run-off of petroleum and sediments that wash into storm drains and end up in our rivers
• Safer and cleaner jobsites

 From a report titled –

“The Preliminary Analysis of the Impact of Cold Mix Asphalt Concretes on Air and Water Quality”

By E. A. Kuhn, Washington State University 2004

This report revealed that more than 369,000 tons of cut-backs were used to make cold mix asphalt in 2001. A cut-back is a petroleum product that is added to asphalt and allows it to remain pliable in cold temperatures. This means that 739 million pounds or over 100 million gallons of petroleum were used as a cut-back agent in cold mix asphalt in that year. This is a huge number in itself, but when adding the fact that 1 gallon of petroleum has the potential to pollute 1 million gallons of drinking water, we now know that cold mix has the potential to pollute over 100 trillion gallons of drinking water per year.

To put this into perspective;

On March 20, 1989 the Exxon Valdez spilled 10.9 million gallons of petroleum into the Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska.

This was considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history. And yet in the United States we allow almost 10 times that amount to leach into the ground every year through the use of cold mix.

Regarding air quality and VOC’s –

A VOC or Volatile Organic Compound causes the formation of ozone and smog which is regulated by the EPA due to the potential health hazards.

If you take the same 100 million gallons of petroleum used to manufacture cold mix, and times that by the 3.5 pounds of VOC’s contained in every gallon you now have more than 350 million pounds of VOC’s introduced into the atmosphere every year.

Saving our natural resources –

Along with the massive amounts of petroleum we waste every year on cold mix we also use more than 3.7 billion pounds of asphalt and this doesn’t even account for the aggregate used.

Be the change you want to see and make sure you specify PLATE LOCKS for all of your construction projects!

We can help you write your specifications, all you have to do is contact us. Click Here to Contact Us