Hoping for the best with new port bypass road | Letters to the editor
A reader is skeptical about the new Port Everglades bypass road's ability to reduce traffic snarls in a key section of Fort Lauderdale.
Has anyone else watched the nine-minute YouTube video of Broward County’s new Port Everglades Bypass Road project?
As you follow the animation through the various intersections, crossovers, twists, turns and transitions, it appears to be a design of desperation trying to do the impossible to alleviate the traffic nightmare that Fort Lauderdale has become. Maybe the locals will figure it out as they try to navigate around all the confused visitors trying to find their way.
The construction of this project, plus reconstruction of the north Eisenhower Boulevard entrance roadway from Southeast 17th Street, to be followed by an elevated people mover and parking garage, should ensure that traffic will be an even bigger headache for years to come.
How effective the confusing new one-lane-each-way bypass road will be in ultimately improving the situation is not yet known. We hope for the best, I guess, as the $55 million project is moving forward.
I also want to mention the future adaptive traffic control designs that are supposed to improve traffic flow at U.S. 1 and 17th Street. Will they work? That is the question. I am skeptical, because when the traffic obviously surpasses the road’s design capacity, it all breaks down. We’ll see.
George Mulhorn, Fort Lauderdale
A strong economy needs workers
I hear economists explain how the U.S. is short of workers. It’s good that our strong economy needs more workers.
I have been taught that those who risk their lives to escape oppressive conditions in Central and South America are hard workers and good citizens. Some in the U.S. express concern that they may become naturalized and vote Democratic.
The vast majority are clearly not seeking entry to commit murder, rape or to deal drugs. Some may become doctors, architects, engineers, merchants or financiers. Messrs. Goldman and Sachs of Wall Street fame likely did not arrive here wearing silk Brioni suits.
Immigrants are more generally immediate and future taxpayers whose skill level and ultimate education serves a current need for our mutual economic stability and growth. They really do perform the jobs that no one else wants.
Sheldon I. Saitlin, Boca Raton
Toward a sustainable future
As temperatures rise due to climate change, so do risks of heat stress, especially for vulnerable populations like the elderly, children and outdoor workers.
Heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense, posing significant health threats and economic burdens. From heat-related illnesses to the strain on health care systems and agricultural losses, the impacts are undeniable.
Permitting reform and allowing our electricity to be revamped would allow for more renewable energy. That would reduce emissions, thus combatting climate change, and better protect communities from harmful effects of extreme heat, ensuring a safer, more sustainable future.
Attilio Abarca-Bodden, Pembroke Pines
Fox is less biased
Letter writer Walter Hollander of Hollywood commented that Donald Trump is not congenial, caring or considerate. That may or may not be true. The writer described “non-Fox News watchers” as literate and informed. Is he aware that nearly as many people watch Fox in prime time as the other liberal networks combined?
I suspect that Mr. Hollander and most “non-Fox News viewers” who write in have never watched Fox. They just echo liberal talking points. Note that Juan Williams, Alan Dershowitz, Harold Ford, Leslie Marshall and other liberal commentators all contribute to Fox.
By comparison, NBC hired Republican Ronna McDaniel, but fired her because others at the network were upset with a conservative being hired. So which side do you think is more biased?
Thomas Kruse, Boca Raton