I always thought these were some very stupid signs. Washington has this concept of road construction costing people just nickels and telling them to go watch what their contribution is doing. However, road construction already creates traffic delays in that area and you’re asking people to go there to check out the construction?
After eliminating all other possibilities, the one remaining-no matter how unlikely-must be the truth.
I agree that the slogan is ill-conceived. But I don’t think they’re saying “go watch road construction.” Rather, they’re trying to highlight the improvements the WSDOT has made, like better guard rails, etc. People don’t usually notice those things. I think they think drawing attention to their efforts will make people realize that the WSDOT does more than just pay guys to hold up “SLOW” signs and make people more willing to vote for funding increases (like the Nickel Project) in the future.