The state Department of Transportation has decided that shaving “minutes” off the Everett-Seattle commute for 400 drivers is worth destroying 15 acres of forest at a cost of $41 million (Monday article, “Trees giving way to cars.”) We’ve already lost hundreds of trees from the I-5 median and shoulders in and around Everett to accommodate the building of an HOV lane, which will be scarcely used. What’s the payoff?
The traffic problems in Snohomish County and beyond are certainly in need of a solution, but it seems like we’re spending a lot of financial and natural resources to accommodate a very small population of drivers. The majority of us, for whom mass transit or carpooling is not a viable option, will continue to slug along in our over-crowded two or three lanes of asphalt, surrounded by walls of concrete. While we’re stuck in traffic, we’ll no longer be able to enjoy the gentle swaying motion of the graceful evergreens.
Maybe we should start thinking of a more realistic alternative to our state nickname: formerly the Evergreen State?
Beckye Randall
Marysville
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