[wrightchr]

here's another one for you...i like reading what other people have to say about these issues.


<b>Light rail, bicycles offer alternatives </b>
Saturday, May 22, 2004

All of the solutions the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has come up with to ease the congestion and limit the effects of accidents in the area will not work, and some would cause more accidents.

A transportation management center, while better coordinating emergency response, would not solve the problem of crashes.

The highway advisory radio system would not be helpful unless people entering the area get the message in time to make better decisions.

Message boards will cause more accidents, as people crane their necks to see what is blocked where as they zoom past at 85 miles per hour three feet from the next car. And widening the roads would only encourage reliance on the automobile as a transportation system.

Why not encourage people to leave their cars at home? Build light rail to the suburbs and encourage people to use it. Build bicycle lanes and provide incentives for companies to provide showers for workers and bike parking on the premises.

This would free up valuable road space for the people who really need it; emergency personnel trying to save lives.

It's not right that children are born in traffic jams when most of those cars are filled with only one person going somewhere that could be easily serviced by light rail or bicycling.

PennDOT has been trying to solve traffic problems using brute force for years with little success. I think the time has come to try a few more elegant solutions.

PAUL ROTHROCK
Harrisburg