Freeway Construction

Regarding Gino Lynch’s alarmingly titled letter, “River-Bottom Freeway” [July 15]:

Mr. Lynch knows that the [Casitas Springs] bypass is not proposed to go in the riverbed. I personally showed him that the bypass would go more than 100 feet from the riverbed. Yet he conjures up an awful world where people cannot even visit the river.

He also says traffic is “only dense for a total of four hours.” Only? We have almost a vehicle every second for a full four hours a day. This is not simply “difficult at times,” this is a serious problem. This onslaught brings accidents, injuries, pollution, noise and nightmarish access problems.

We need relief, not alarmism or exaggeration.

Mr. Lynch says newcomers started the movement. Actually, the bypass was started more than 30 years ago and has restarted several times since. Besides, in America we have no “residency requirement.”

There is overwhelming local support for the bypass: 70% of our households have signed support cards, 60-plus have yard signs, and more than 1,700 people have signed petitions.

Living on this highway is unsafe and unhealthy, and the bypass is long overdue.

Steve and Darlene Durfee

Ventura