Miri-Sibu Highway by 2015?

Miri will have a "highway" by 2015. The stretch of road is about 400 kilometers long, and runs from Miri through to Bintulu and Sibu. Yes, after having nearly lost in their stupid election, having won only by really late-night recounts, a zombie invasion and some lights-out sleigh-of-hand of the results they finally got off their butts to do something about the roadways in Sarawak.

According to our Works Minister, "based on the (Barisan Nasional's 13th General Election) manifesto that we will do it in five years, so we will implement it (the upgrading works) in stages."

I know which stage THAT is. It's the panicky adrenaline-pumped-wake-up-call in-fear-of-being-fired stage.

Should've done that eons ago.

But, of interest here, what's a "Highway"?

When I was at school, I recall during our SPM exams there is an oral exam where you are interviewed with examiners from West Malaysia who asked various questions. My recollection is fuzzy, so I don't remember what was the question, but the subject that came up was roads.

I inadvertently answered that Miri has a "highway". The examiners laughed, saying that Miri doesn't have a "highway".

Because we all think "highways" are quadruple-lane car packed roadways that look like this:

But, if you do a search on Bing, or Google, or Yahoo or whatever, you can also get this picture below, which is still labeled "open desert highway":

You see, even in my childhood, watching the TV series "The HighwayMan" involves the guy driving his truck on open, dusty two-way single-lane roads in the middle of no where that look like that. And the series is called "The HIGHWAYMan", not "The Two-Way-Single-Lane-Crappy-Road Man".

Screencap from The "Highwayman"

That, my friends, can be a highway. Miri has plenty of those. The West Malaysian examiners who laughed at my statement are the ones who don't have a clue.

From the news  : http://www.sun2surf.com/news/756279