Yesterday's Letter to Statesman Editor

Road of a different stripe

Re: April 23 article "On MoPac, a question of safety."

The Texas Department of Transportation's proposed $110 million restriping of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) is inherently unsafe. The 8 1/2-foot wide commercial trucks routinely on the road will have just 15 inches on each side in the new lanes — just a tad wider than a regular desk ruler. Cars will have only about 2 feet. The out-of-scale TxDot renderings make the lanes look spacious.

Common sense tells us more wrecks are likely. In highway constructions zones, where TxDot reduces lanes and shoulders, the speed limits are dropped to about 45 mph. Even then, it is a white-knuckle drive while packed in that close together.

Perhaps a new name is in order — "RatPac."

STEVEN MIERL
Austin