Is there a highway congestion bottleneck problem in Pacifica, or is it that the rest of us just imagine it Alec? The clock will not be turned back.
Pacifica Tribune Letters to the Editor, 4/23/13. Highway 1 by Alec Moss
| Ah, the old days in Pacifica. What's a car? |
"Until the mid-1960s, when the Highway 1 freeway ditch was built through Pacifica, Highway 1 was Pacifica's main street, and Sharp Park was a contiguous community, roughly the geographic center of what is now Pacifica.
Palmetto Avenue, which was Old County Road way back when, is at best a side street now. Highway 1 serves as a barrier between the two halves of Pacifica," Lionel Emde, Pacifica Riptide, Feb. 17 2009.
We all know what's happened to those businesses. I firmly believe some were lost due to the freeway ditch but also know that some were lost to over-the-hill development (Serramonte Shopping Center) and other economic factors, i.e. changing shopping/business trends.
Now some want to extend the freeway -- OK widen Rt 1 -- even farther south, further dividing our town in two. This would not be good for Pacifica. It would be good for some residents, enabling them to save, let's see, maybe 5 to 10 minutes getting to and from work. I know you all say it takes too long to get through the lights in Pacifica. Widening Rt. 1 will not make that go away. It will just take a few minutes off of that time because there will always be that bottleneck when three lanes go back to two. I'm making assumptions here -- someone with the tools should study that.
Another issue is the ability of emergency vehicles to get through. Do you think three lanes instead of two will automatically cause drivers to pay attention and be aware of the sirens and lights on these vehicles? The biggest problem that I see (often) is that drivers are oblivious and simply don't make way for emergency vehicles when they come up from behind. Take out the earbuds, get off the phone, turn down the radio, look in the rear view mirror every 10 seconds and pay attention to the driving when you're driving."
Posted by Kathy Meeh
4 comments:
You're brillant! You solved all our problems. It's the earbuds. The earbuds are to fault. Send that to CalTrans and let them ponder that for a nano second or so.
Sherlock, you're one dull fella. You flog the same angle anytime The Plan or Caltrans are questioned. Soooo disappointing.
You, Anon, should be doing the questioning. But you believe Caltrans, like it's some sort of authority. It's a public agency that serves its own ends and couldn't give a rat's a@@ about the communities it "serves."
Bigger is better, period.
@535 No, you ninny, it's Sherlock who believes Caltrans' every word. I actually agree with much of what the letter writer said. Caltrans is a killer of small towns, usually turning them into pass throughs to somewhere else where money can be spent and the sense of community flourishes. It's ironic when we consider who supports this project, but if we want Pacifica to remain unchanged and incapable of sustaining itself this highway widening should do it.
Post a Comment