Drivers Slow for Signs of Bad Poetry

The city of Irvine has a bunch of smart-aleck engineers. And you can measure their jokes by the meter.

Deciding that a bad poem would get more attention than a “Construction Ahead” sign, the Irvine Public Works Department has been marking its work zones with takeoffs on the old Burma Shave roadside ads.

“If time is important/ in your commute/ don’t come this way/ use an alternate route,” reads the first in what has become a series.

And yes, the poems were written by committee.

“We actually solicited input from anybody who had anything that they thought might work, and we pulled together a list,” said Tom Mazzola, Irvine’s city project management administrator. “We’re just thanking the public for their patience and letting them know we’re doing our best to complete the projects as quickly as possible.”

The first signs--temporary banners--went up where the city is widening Jamboree Road between Michelson Drive and Main Street, including the bridge over the San Diego Freeway.

Reaction was so positive that the Irvine Company borrowed two of the signs to warn motorists of its Lower Peters Canyon project north of Interstate 5, west of Culver Drive. One reads: “Rome wasn’t built in one day. If it were, we would have hired their contractor.”

Mazzola said the signs will mark at least three other construction sites this summer, including renovations of Von Karman Avenue, Trabuco Road and Irvine Center Drive. The department plans to make sturdier signs than the current banners, at a cost of $600 to $700 a set, Mazzola said.

“We have to put up [warning] signs anyway,” he said. “I think the PR is well worth the minimal expense.”

Among the poems in contention for future public airing: “Hey buckaroos/ we’re sad to say/ the stage will be late/ if it comes this way.”

Go figure. A public works department as poet, and they didn’t even know it, until they had this chance to go out and show it.