As the Cali paving work enters a new phase (the blacktop’s all done up to just north of Charlestown; now the focus is on the stretch up to Admiral), we’ve received a reader’s troubling tale of late-night hijinks that could threaten safety. We’re passing along because at the very least, if you live in that area, you can help watch for this; if you drive in that area, be very careful. Full e-mail after the click:

Last night (Friday) I witnessed something that everyone should be aware of. I returned to my apartment just after midnight. (on the corner of California and one of the streets currently in the construction zone). There was a car idling with 2 people in the back seat and the two from the front seat were running toward California. At first I thought they were stealing orange cones. Then they ran back to the car empty handed. They jumped in the car and sped away. I parked and walked up to California to see what they did. Well, they rearranged the cones and blockades to open the center lane (which was previously closed and still being worked on) and close the outside lanes. People heading south who were on the outside right lane got diverted into the center lane (which wasn’t really in driving condition). The people heading north on the outside lane came to an abrupt stop without anywhere to go but up on the sidewalk across to the cross street.

I called 911 to get someone out there to fix it. I also got the license plate of the kids that did it (they were teenagers). First, an ambulance heading north stopped to fix that lane. A couple of minutes later, a police officer came down and fixed the rest of it. Several cars were affected by this “prank.” Luckily no one was hurt and no cars were damaged that i know of. It just sickens me that people have such a lack of consideration for those that they share this world with. This could have really turned out badly. And here we thought the graffiti was bad.