September 4, 2012
Dear Editor:
I had meant to write about the new fast lane put in this summer on southbound Interstate 5, just opened a few weeks ago, but now tragedy has struck in a horrific way [“Mother and daughter die in tragic Interstate 5 accident” The Mountain Enterprise Breaking News online and print story Sept. 7, 2012].
I believe this is the most dangerous stretch of highway on the I-5. It is poorly executed and an accident waiting to happen. Now it has.
I drive this highway two or three times a week and it scares the hell out of me. It has major dips and bumps, not to mention the dangerous angles and slopes that pull you onto the road’s edge or into the adjacent lane.
As I am sure others who drive the highway knew, I was certain it would kill someone.
I don’t know what happened the morning of the accident, but I would bet it had something to do with this new death lane.
What is the matter with our road builders? Don’t they have engineers who can read a level or pitch of a highway to make it safe? I see most of the drivers avoiding this new stretch of road, most can tell how dangerous it is. This is another example of our tax dollars being wasted paying for poor workmanship. How many more will die because of this road? Please be careful when driving south. It may kill again!
I was proud this year after writing my first “Road Grump” letter about the poor job done on our local road repair. Our community stood up together for what is right. We now have a beautiful new road, one of the best we have had for the last forty years.
It is amazing what we can get done when we work together to make our elected and appointed officials take responsibility for wasting our tax dollars. We should not accept shoddy workmanship or dangerous conditions.
What can we do about this new lane? Be very careful when driving in it, and hope after this morning’s loss of life, maybe someone will take notice and do something to improve it.
Al Fleming
Lake of the Woods
This is part of the September 14, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.
