Regarding the Aug. 2 article, “Urban traffic hits rural roads,” I don’t understand the arguments regarding the relaxation of rural rules for traffic to accommodate development. Granted, we see urban sprawl into previously quiet areas of our county. Yes, that is the price paid for economic growth and development. But I would think that before housing and retail development occurs, appropriate infrastructure should be in place.
What I glean from the article is that Snohomish County will relax existing rules for some rural roads to allow developers to create new subdivisions without changes in volume flow of traffic. In other words, rural areas that are developed will spill more commuters onto existing two-lane roads without any upgrading, widening, etc of these roads.
We already have slow and congested traffic on many rural roads. (I have experienced this daily since 1984.) I had hoped that our government would demand that developers build the necessary roads to their new housing developments before building. Apparently this isn’t the case.
Nancy Lellelid
Granite Falls
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