Roadwork

Barton George Dawes is an ordinary man living a quiet life in a Midwestern city, working a steady job and holding onto the remnants of a past that has already begun to slip away. When the state announces plans to build a new highway that will cut directly through his neighborhood—destroying both his home and the laundry business where he works—Dawes refuses to accept what seems inevitable. While others move on or make arrangements, he remains rooted in place, unable or unwilling to let go.

As the demolition deadline approaches, Dawes’s resistance becomes more personal and more intense. Memories of loss—especially the death of his young son—linger just beneath the surface, shaping his attachment to the life that is being taken from him piece by piece. What begins as quiet defiance slowly turns into something more consuming, as he isolates himself and pushes away the people trying to help him.

Set against the impersonal machinery of urban development, Roadwork is a stark and intimate portrait of a man unraveling under pressure. It explores grief, identity, and the fragile line between holding on and losing control, as Dawes confronts a world that continues forward without him.