Some of you will remember the classic television series "Hill St Blues" which always started with an admonition from the Sergeant at the end of the daily briefing to "be careful out there". That was a nice gesture given that the assembled officers were about to head out into an uncertain environment...I was reminded of that uncertainty today on during my drive down to Seward - as I slowed for the bridge reconstruction works between Moose Pass and Seward, I paused to think about just how significant those works will be for us in the year(s) ahead. Clearly the work has to be done , although I wondered how such seriously maintenance could have been deferred on three bridges for so long. The fact that the maintenance can only be done in summer is particularly challenging for tourism-dependent businesses in Seward such as ours.
I must admit that I have been disappointed by the lack of prior consultation about road closures and the lack of integration of closures with key business activities such cruise vessel schedules.
However, today, I was struck by yet another challenge - 4 different speed zones within one mile!
The average person is exposed to more than 1,600 images per day according to market research experts. That number may be a little lower in Alaska where there is not the proliferation of advertizing that one sees in the lower 48... but still, there are a lot of things to pay attention to when driving. And so I was struck by how challenging it will be for drivers to meet such rapidly changing road use rules. Yes, we all have to be careful around construction sites, but is such signage really workable? I'll pose that question to the relevant authorities.
In the meantime... be careful out there.
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