Public Transportation Is the Better Choice

Re “Caltrans Shelves Plan to Widen the 101 Freeway,” May 21: It’s about time we started to edge away from the pave-and-jam mentality of the last 50 years. Have we finally begun to notice what traffic engineers have known for decades? Build more lanes and they’ll fill with cars.

Transit, though: underground transit -- yeah, subways! More carrying capacity on two tracks than in 30 lanes of freeway; gets folks to work to earn money and to stores to spend it; doesn’t require obliterating homes, parks and businesses for lanes and parking; doesn’t take land off the tax rolls. Ever visit Macy’s in Manhattan? Eleven crowded floors of commerce, and no parking lot. And the Red Line costs the same per mile, more or less, as an old-tech freeway. Extend the North Hollywood Red Line to Warner Center in Woodland Hills -- along Ventura Boulevard -- add feeder buses and watch the Valley bloom!

Richard Risemberg

Los Angeles