Jalan Besar tourist prison

Some shop houses along Jalan Besar have been propped up with support bars by the LTA to minimize damage from ongoing MRT construction in the area. The black-and-yellow striped bars look like barriers from a crime scene (which it is not) or a construction site (which it is, peripherally) and have been likened to a prison. The fear is visitors and tourists will be put off by it and assume it is not safe to go there.

The problem is not the bars themselves but the message they send: Danger - stay away. The solution is simple. Paint the bars in bright colors (lime green, bright orange, hot pink, etc.) and it will look artsy, even inviting. No one would associate that with a warning barrier.