Letters to the Editor

Roundabouts - A Waste of Ag Land and Taxpayer Money

To the Editor:

Caltrans’ proposal to build roundabouts on Highway 126 is unwarranted and a waste of taxpayer money given that recent improvements have reduced the “Fatality plus Injury” accident rate to significantly less than the accident rate on similar roads, statewide. 

Caltrans was originally tasked to improve safety conditions on Highway 126 between Santa Paula and Fillmore, which it has done. As a result of adding edge and center-lane rumble strips, electronic speed monitoring devices and slowing speed, the accident rate on this stretch of Highway 126 has been reduced.

Caltrans should be applauded for surpassing the statewide safety goals for this road.  While slowing traffic to reduce the accident rate further is a worthy goal, confiscating valuable farmland and disrupting local residential, farming, fire and emergency traffic flow to build roundabouts makes no sense. 

Traffic flow can be further slowed by installing traffic lights and adding more highway patrol officers, and the road can be made safer by improving highway access to driveways and roads and improving railroad crossings. These measures would further lower the accident rate on this road…and surely be less costly than building roundabouts.

Caltrans should not spend $75.5 million to build roundabouts when it is possible to slow traffic and to make the road safer in less disruptive and less costly ways. 

Marcia Edwards

Santa Paula

Protesting

To the Editor:

I am writing in protest the city’s policy of charging a “processing fee” of $3.95 for paying my water bill on-line.

As we all know, the on-line method of paying bills is a convenience for both the payer and the payee for obvious reasons.