A bit of whimsy today but with an important lesson…

I’m on distribution for road construction updates from the Colorado Department of Transportation mainly because 20 miles of interstate between where we live and Castle Rock (toward Denver) has been undergoing a widening project. It’s called the I-25 South Gap project. Here’s what came in on April 29: 

I-25 Impacts Increase Next Week – Construction on the I-25 South Gap project is still ongoing through November 2022. This week, crews will ramp up construction impacts on I-25. This includes extended lane closures on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7, and daytime Express Lane closures Monday through Saturday.

Bob, why are you telling us this? Because…with great fanfare, the project was declared completed “ahead of schedule” last December!

Here’s what the Denver Post reported on November 22, 2021:

A much smoother ride between Castle Rock and Monument is in store for drivers on Interstate 25 next month as new express lanes open, bringing an end to more than three years of traffic shifts, tight lanes and construction backups...

“By mid-December, in time for Christmas, the I-25 South Gap project team will open all lanes of travel in their final alignment, with an express lane fully open in both directions,” Gov. Jared Polis said during a news conference at a truck chain-up station near Larkspur…Several speakers touted that all lanes “will be open an entire year earlier than originally projected,” as Polis put it. 

On December 8, 2021, the Denver Post closed the loop:

New express lanes opened Friday morning on Interstate 25 — initially without tolls charged — through the I-25 South Gap project zone between Castle Rock and Monument...After more than three years of construction along the 18-mile corridor, the additional lane in each direction is expected to smooth the drive through the notoriously bottlenecked section of I-25 south of metro Denver by making at least three lanes open each way.

Good news, right? It’s done. Not so fast, the Post article continues:

The highway is now in its final configuration, but work remains to be done during the winter and spring to wrap up the $419 million project officials said. After crews install and test tolling equipment above the express lanes, tolls will take effect.

In short, it’s NOT done. And work slated to be done “winter and spring” really means, I found out last week, through November. Communication, not from the governor, not from the newspaper, but from the actual people who do the work:

Construction on the I-25 South Gap project is still ongoing through November 2022.

In case you’re wondering why people sometimes have trouble believing politicians, it’s because they sometimes don’t tell the (whole) truth. 

The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other… (Daniel 11.27, NIV)

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18.38, ESV)

Therefore, putting away lying, Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (Ephesians 4.25, NKJV)

And I just discovered an even more troubling aspect of the perception of truth in our society, and it applies to all of us. Stay tuned.