Century Freeway Photos

Regarding Jeff Gates’ pictorial on the Century Freeway (Gallery, May 13):

2,000 years from now, long after the need for the automobile, I believe the Century Freeway’s interchanges will still be standing. The architecture is inspiring for us as it will be for future generations. But it is also possible that the utility of the interchanges will only be speculated upon by people who live many years in the future. Like the statues on Easter Island or the pyramids of Egypt, their existence and purpose will be shrouded in mystery.

People might ask: Are these ruins in any way related to an ancient civilization that used to worship an “automobile”? Perhaps they are the result of a powerful emperor who wished to be immortalized and forced people to work on structures? One scholar has calculated that, given the crude construction methods in place at the time (there was one method called “red tape”), it must have taken 500 people working 40 hours a week for years in order to construct these monoliths. Did you know that, when plotted on a map, the remaining structures form a pattern similar to the zodiac sign of Aries?

PAUL SKOPHAMMER

Malibu