New plan appears doomed to failure

I was happy to read that the Snohomish County transportation planners and the mayor of Everett are taking an interest in the mess that is I-5 northbound through Everett, usually in the early afternoon until well past 6 p.m.

Unfortunately, they are still focusing on a hugely expensive plan that was doomed with the failure of Referendum 51. They do mention, however, that after their grandiose plan of unneeded HOV lanes in both directions was completed, they would build a better on-ramp from 41st Street to U.S. 2 with leftover funds from a voter-approved bond issue. The mayor adds that he doesn’t want decades to pass before there are I-5 improvements.

Wouldn’t it have been grand if the city fathers would have used funding that went for two bridges to nowhere (the almost unused port and the empty riverside land) to simply build the extra on-ramp lane from 41st to U.S. 2, thus relieving what many people believe is the greatest cause for the slowdown there. And wouldn’t it have been splendid if our city fathers had been in Olympia lobbying to get funds for this project instead of worrying about an ice rink?

Well, that’s the past. The need for that one simple lane to replace a very dangerous, substandard on-ramp is greater than ever. Let’s quit wishing for the pie in the sky voters have turned down and make that one small improvement that anyone who drives that stretch of road knows will do the most good.

Everett