Why aren’t planners considering children

There have been many letters sent since LCDOT made their decision on the best route for the bypass with their own letter with a misrepresentation of facts (e.g., an 18 percent time savings — translated: 5.9 seconds). LCDOT’s primary goal and black/white approach simply equated to the shortest point between A and B, and not having to design a curve to handle the traffic. This efficiency will equate to more trucks coming down Rt. 45 thanks to the I-94 extra toll and Rt. 41’s weigh station. In their final presentation and recommendation, they never even once presented or considered the impact on children, be it safety in their yards or their lungs. The world is not black or white. This project requires professionals to take a responsible, multidimensional vantage point. So we ask quite simply of the county, the federal and state reps and the divisions of transportation (county and state): Why have you yet answered our many public questions about putting children, families, and property values at risk versus stepping back and reassessing a very black-and-white decision? Most likely the county will be passing this off to the state so as to ensure that they no longer have to deal with the public outcry against LCDOT’s decision. The state obviously knows best, but hasn’t this state seen enough truck-related incidents to not step back and rethink this decision before we all ask ourselves in the future, why didn’t we do more to come up with a better solution to protect our community’s children?

Kevin Tuley

Lindenhurst