Letter: Avoid crisis in plan for trail segment

First, do not create a 'crisis'. The Daily Herald's Feb. 4 front-page headline, "$5M grant aimed at reversing 'crisis' on roadways," highlights welcome attention to making streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

A key component of safety is keeping our most vulnerable travelers off of dangerous streets while simultaneously presenting drivers with fewer distractions.

Well-designed trails encourage joyful public use of alternate transportation choices, enhance tourism economic development, and offer environmentally sensitive solutions to stormwater management. So many wins.

Let's hope the $5 million "Safe Travel for All Roadmap," which includes DuPage County's matching $540,000, will support partnerships to proactively prevent a crisis by building a proposed Mack Road trail segment not across five private driveways along a hilly 40 mph no-shoulder road, as planned by the City of Warrenville, but across the street in Blackwell Forest Preserve.

Mary Lou Wehrli

Naperville