Interstate Blues

While travelling down the streets of my hometown of Omaha, I could only hark back to the words a friend once said about Omaha: “It will be a great city, once they’re done with the roads.” Living in the Midwest, with both winter storms and spring/summer tornados, the weather plays havoc on the road system. But, what if the weather isn’t the cause of it?

The runners are hired by Mr. Johnson to do a little creative road construction. An interstate highway bridge is the target, and the runners are to do as much damage as possible to the bridge supports at a minimum, and collapse the thing if at all possible.

First, the runners have to figure out how to take down such a large structure without being detected by Lone Star or State Highway Patrol. This is not an easy task, as most cities at night would have heavy patrols on the Interstate system to discourage Go-Gangers.

Thinking of Go-Gangers, what happens if they come across the little demolition exercise? They won’t be happy that one of their joyriding routes is about to be closed on a long-term basis, and will cause a major problem to the runners.

Third, corps that use the highways to ship products are also going to get miffed at the demolition. Licensed truckers would relay what is happening back to the home base. Though the corporation would probably not be able to act in time, nor get the information to Lone Star about the goings on, if the loss of the bridge causes major shipping delays and greater expenses for the company, they’re not going to be happy with the runners who pulled off the job.

Finally, there is Mr. Johnson. Who is he? Does he work for a construction company, who would be contracted to fix the bridge? Does he work for a terrorist organization, and this is a strike against oppressive government? Is he really a business owner nearby, that will be on the detour route if the bridge needs to be rebuilt, thus increasing the amount of customers?

Even more pratfalls and options for Mr. Johnson and the other corporations exist. Just think of the nightmares of road construction in your area, and you will see all sorts of possibilities.