Torn Highway

Vergwun Highway ₳ la carate, or simply The Torn Highway, is an unmaintained stretch of highway at the end of the Shield Highway expressway. It was the region's largest traffic artery until 2001, when the accidents shut it down. After a new bridge and highway, the Shield-Vead Highway, came out to help serve penguins across, the highway was bypassed and fell to ruin.

Planning, Construction and the Early Days
Probably around 1981, when Vead Island and Shield Island were already highly developed of Weddell, they needed a bridge to connect both lands together. The ferry system broke down as there were many ferries going elsewhere and it would be more convenient for a bridge. Thus, they created a bridge to link both islands together.

However, where does the bridge link to? Cars or whatever system there is can't just be driven across snow! They needed an extra road. Since Shield City would be a perfect match for the start, they created a small turn-around at the end of the Shield Highway and linked it there. It also linked to other places. For the other side of the bridge, they linked it to a road as an "exit".

They completed it by 1983 and hundreds of creatures flocked to the bridge and crossed it. It gained several users who were looking forward to the opposing island's natural beauty.

The creature who sponsored this suggested that his surname would be great. The A la carte is an add-on to this and the other bridge.

Heyday
As Vead Island gained more attractions, the highway was more frequently used. The highway was widened thrice in 1986, and was deemed the 'Bridge of the Year' by an award company the following year. The bridge went on to contain rest stops, factories and even an amusement park. Plans to lengthen the highway were shelved, sadly. A local company funded the highway's repair from 1987 to 1991 at the same time.

Within the first half of 1990, the highway had to capacitate more than its maximum capacity. An accident occurred that year, in which several cars were damaged after a truck hit a car very badly. This caused a drop in the number of users for the year, but still earned enough money from tolls and other services provided. It was promoted highly in 1991 and 1992.

In 1993, the highway celebrated its tenth birthday by launching a new lane, which helped reduce traffic substantially. The highway was once again crowned as 'Bridge of the Year' by the same awards company.

Drop of Popularity, The Major Incident
The highway's popularity eventually dropped when the bridge started to crack open at the Shield Island section. It was eventually repaired, but broke open again a week later. And again and again and again. The nearby amusement park decided to make use of the opportunity and expanded widely on its facilities. Many were attracted to the amusement park's wide range of facilities, even going as far as including a puffle salon. 80% of users that year from Shield Island drove to the amusement park, but 95% of users that year from Vead Island drove there. The bridge was not as populated as before, and the highway shrinked. All these occurred in the dreaded year of 1994.

In 1995, a pillar of the highway suddenly broke apart, but did not cause much damage. It turned out that the STINC was behind it, but this was only discovered in 2008.

The highway had its first major incident in 1996, when a tanker crashed into another tanker and oil burst open. The second tanker accidentally hit into the first tanker's oil tank by its back. No penguins were harmed in either incident, and all penguins had to evacuate. Eventually, a fire started 14 hours later (as recorded by the local fire department) and caused the whole bridge to collapse. The cars drove out before the fire occurred, and nearby facilities had to be evacuated. More than 250 thousand penguins were affected.

The government made no effort to repair the damage as it was a corrupt government then (Shield Island was a self-governing country, not part of Colonial Antarctica). Boats were utilized from 1996 to 1999, when teleportation was partially used. At the time, teleportation was largely scarce, therefore, it could only be used until 2000. These services were implemented at other places instead of the highway area.

New Bridge, New Road, New Torn Highway
The bridge and the ice were eventually repaired and refilled when the government was reformed. The bridge had less drivers as many were afraid of the past incident. Eventually, they made a new bridge and highway, known as the Shield-Vead Highway, in 2001.

Penguins all took that new bridge to get to the other side, and this bridge was bypassed. New roads were implanted on each side.

These are the positions of the new highway on both sides.
 * Shield Island: The Shield Highway has two exits instead of one at the end. The one to the left takes you to the new highway while the one to the left takes you to the TORN HIGHWAY. This bridge now leads you to Vead Island. The side that takes you to Torn Highway closed as it was re-used as a trrain bridge.
 * Penguin Line: This is the side that takes you to Torn highway. It closed as it is now used by trains.

The highway was eventually dubbed the 'Torn Highway' in 2003, and was abandoned ever since.

Highway Condition
Torn Highway does not have a grey sky floating above it. However, the trees are grey for some odd reason. Leaves are scattered across the road, so most have difficulty driving through. Towards the highway, the number of trees decrease, and creaking sounds are heard. The bridge itself has many cracks and old-looking supporters.

Exits and Places
Despite being abandoned and bypassed, the government never decommissioned the road other than putting "BRIDGE OUT" signs across it.

Exit 3B: To E Cander Street Continuing straight results in reaching the start of the Bridge. This will be blocked by wooden signs reading "BRIDGE OUT". Indeed, the bridge is out, so go no further. Go back to Start Lane and take Shield-Vead. Even if the bridge is open, the road at Vead Island would eventually lead to the Shield-Vead Highway. Surprisingly, the Shield-Vead Highway stretch at Vead Island was formerly part of the Torn Highway, except that part of the old road was blocked out, and a new road was built that would lead to the new highway.
 * At the end of the Shield Highway, there is an exit, or turn, a meter before the dead end of the main highway. It leads to the start of Torn Highway and, eventually, the bridge. The lane is known as the "Start Lane".
 * The Start Lane will later divide into two lanes: The Shield-Vead Highway (west) and The Torn Highway continuos (east). The west lane could be looked up here. The east lane goes on to Torn Highway.
 * Exit 1: Turn off about a minute or so off the Torn Highway. This leads to a factory that manufactures Penghis Khan Toys.
 * Exit 2: An abandoned mini-amusement park, located right before the Bridge begins.
 * Exit 3A: To Cander Street