How temporary is temporary?

Examples of how the town changes its signage in any 24-hour period. These signs came up one day along long stretches of back alleyways in the town.

They're public signage familiar from our driving system and identical to all roadworks up and down the UK.

Of course the road isn't closed when I take these photographs and there's little evidence of work. 

Unlike the Road Closed sign, confusingly against a road which looks open (above), the sign (below) is quite accurate in the information it gives against the view I can see. This driver's sign suggests the road narrows on the left within a few yards, and indeed it does.

But the signs are of the anonymous sort. Who put them there? Could these signs have been put here by private contractors about the work on the road?

Although these signs don't tell you, I know they're in preparation for the water board to work on the underground pipes. These signs are part of a two-stage process: the staff first deposit the signs in the afternoon, then the water workers arrive about 9pm to move the sign to the centre of the road while they work on the pipes overnight.

Probably I have some local contextual knowledge about this; I know how these signs are going to move. I gained it generally from watching how people work and how they move signage around to take control of the space, in this case while they need to dig holes in the ground. And the other night the water pressure in my tap went down. The local people around me have probably worked this all out as well. So we'll mix our local understanding with our awareness of what consequence these anonymous, identical signs hold for drivers and pedestrians.

So who are these signs for? Everyone or just a few people? Drivers, certainly. By these signs they're encouraged to avoid potential problems and find other routes around the town. But also the very specific audience of residents who have garages and access points along these roads where the entrance is marked by these signs. These signs say, Will you want to move your car in and out your garage after midnight and overnight? You can't. Park on the street.