Subway Tunnel Construction

* As a former Los Angeles resident now living in Switzerland, I was appalled (but not surprised) when I read about the Los Angeles subway tunnel misalignment debacle (April 14). The Swiss can build a four-lane 17-mile-long freeway tunnel (the St. Gotthard Pass) through a mountain (the Alps!) in all kinds of weather, on budget, on time, in alignment. We can’t build a 4.5-mile subway that isn’t over budget, over schedule, and is as much as two feet misaligned! The Swiss are now building a 50-mile-long freeway tunnel through the Alps and there is no doubt it, too, will be built on budget, on time, in alignment. The Swiss will accept nothing less!

Are the Shea-Kiewiet-Kenny engineers, budget planners and geologists all inept? Maybe they should speak to the Swiss, or better yet, how about to the man (Clinton Myers) who just had such tremendous success in putting the Santa Monica Freeway back into operation!

CHARLOTTE DIAL

Lugano, Switzerland

* The city’s payment of a $200,000 bonus for every day that the Santa Monica Freeway repairs were completed ahead of schedule has been justified on the theory that it was costing the city approximately $1 million per day, in lost time and business, for every day this particular bridge remained closed (April 13). Thus, we all presumably come out ahead by $800,000 per day if taxpayer funds are used for this purpose.

By this logic, Los Angeles officials should consider the costs of each day of delay in the completion of such projects as the Red Line subway system. When the subway is completed, it is expected to save us millions by reducing travel time for both subway riders and drivers, alleviating air pollution, and saving many of us the substantial expenses of car payments, insurance premiums, gasoline and parking. Every time we are stuck in traffic, we are reminded that our dependence on the freeway system costs us money even when the bridges are all standing. Whenever a vital link in the chain is broken, the benefits of having an efficient public transportation system in place to provide an alternative to being stuck in traffic become even clearer.

It would therefore seem a worthwhile expenditure to offer the contractors who are diligently digging subway tunnels incentives to complete the job sooner. In addition to saving us substantial amounts in the long run, speeding up the progress of this project would also go a long way toward minimizing the short-term disruption of such important thoroughfares as Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard during the period of subway construction.

JOSEPH C. MARKOWITZ

Los Angeles