Signs of the times 2

I was cruising along the road from the old bridge that connects diaper island to the delusional capital city when I happened upon a signage that correctly described the road work being done.  As you can clearly see in the photo, the project being undertaken is the building of a series of center islands to properly divide the road.  But why call it a "demolition"?  Well, only the company tasked to build these islands could answer that.  But for now, I'll share my own thoughts on why they chose to call this a demolition instead of a construction.

First, let's start with what they did with the road.  True enough, they drilled, dug, and destroyed what was once a relatively newly refurbished stretch of road.  But they did so to create the foundations for the center island.  So it should be road construction right?  Well, no.  You see, with warning signs that are not reflective, plus the total lack of safety barriers, it is highly possible that motorists will figure in traffic collisions.  So it is possible that their signage is indeed descriptive of things to come.

Second, they are probably predicting the end-result of their work.  We have all seen how these government projects look when they're finished.  For the first few weeks, they will look pristine and brand new.  Just enough for it to look good during the photo op for the "grand opening."  Give it a couple more weeks and it will fade like every derelict government project ever constructed.  What may look like a good project right now, will look like a demolition site a few days after.

Speaking of demolition site, I am afraid to predict what may be reason number 3.  It is possible that they are also predicting what may happen to some motorists who have a tendency to speed up on long stretches of road.  If I were to base my speculation on the numerous center islands that litter the entire province, these very same ones that are being constructed are going to lack the proper reflective paint to warn motorists of their presence.  It is bad enough that this certain section of road is badly lit.  It is worse when you construct a center island that is not visible to motorists at night.  We are all aware of Newton's first law of motion: "An object that is in motion will not change its velocity unless an external force acts upon it."  Object in motion = motor vehicle.  External Force = Center Island.  We don't need to speculate what will happen when both forces meet.

Again, these are all speculations based on what we have seen in the past.  I hope that I will be proven wrong in the end and this project, which is extremely inconveniencing everyone at the start of the schoolyear, will turn out to be a safe and good idea.  But for the moment, I will stick to what the signs says because it would be a cold day in hell before someone could convince me that a government project would actually turn out to be useful, beneficial and safe for motorists and non-motorists.