A Highway Through The Past

Scenario

After much study, the State Department of Transportation decided that a stretch of road was needed to connect two very busy state highways. The study had included environmental assessment of the area that the road would be covering. Much to the frustration of the local people, this study had taken over a year to complete.

Now, by state law, before any road construction could begin paleontologists (scientists who study past life) from the state university had been given six months to study the land that would be covered by the new road. The local residents who would use this new road were very upset because of this further delay of six months. They were even more upset when they found out that the findings of the paleontologists would delay the road construction longer than six months, and maybe even indefinitely.

Chapter Challenge

The State Department of Transportation has concluded that in order to allow area residents a chance to express their views, a town-hall meeting should be held to discuss the issue. At this meeting, the paleontologists would also be given an opportunity to provide their findings and explain why they have asked for a delay or even an indefinite postponement of the construction. For your challenge, you may be asked to represent someone who is against building the road, someone who is for building the road, or one of the group of paleontologists. Or, you may be asked to represent a member of one of the levels of government involved in this project to explain why it is necessary to have all these studies and subsequent delays. (continued)