The Highway Department are unable to solve the engineering problems associated with dirt road maintenance in spite of the fact that dirt roads are maintained all over the country at a reasonable cost. Books and articles have been written. Recommendations from engineers and highway superintendents have been tried and proven in this and other states. The protest is enormous and there will be a fight to the last man or woman standing.
The opposing sides are not divided between generations or between political parties. All the young people we have spoken to love the dirt roads, but are the first to admit that if they are paved, they will be driving down them in their cars and on their motorbikes at at high speeds. Danger to animals and pedestrians is a constant cry.
I am making a short film about some of the questions that have arisen in this battle, interviewing families who walk the paved roads, and others who are qualified to talk about the engineering and financial side of it. I am on the side of the anti paving so this will not be a balanced film.
