Transit planning should get higher priority

The Nov. 30 front-page article about Southern California counties failing to coordinate their transportation priorities was biased in favor of automobile drivers and reflected a traditional pro-freeway approach to solving traffic problems. There’s nothing wrong with L.A. County’s farsighted decision to put most of its transportation money into expanding rail and bus transit instead of building and widening freeways.

If L.A. County gave in to the mindless momentum of widening freeways to allow even more cars from surrounding counties to hit the road, it would only worsen the existing traffic jams and smog problems in L.A. More needs to be done to get L.A.-bound commuters from the surrounding counties to leave their cars at home and ride Amtrak or Metrolink trains instead of adding to the existing traffic congestion and air pollution.

City planning priorities all over Southern California need to be changed to provide housing closer to workplaces (and closer to transit) so that long-distance commuting by car will not be allowed to define the kind of communities we live in.

MICHAEL WOO

Los Angeles

Woo, a former Los Angeles City Council member and mayoral candidate, teaches urban planning at USC.

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Re “City Agrees to Craft New LAX

Overhaul,” Dec. 1

The best way to reduce traffic in and around LAX is to extend Metrolink service to the airport area. There is a rail line the public already owns to LAX that could serve downtown Los Angeles and most of Southern California. Combined with an expanded Green Line, a great deal of local traffic could be moved off the streets and the San Diego and Santa Monica freeways.

This is a project that would cost fairly little and could be done quickly, since little construction would be needed.

NOEL BRAYMER

President, Rail Passenger

Assn. of California

Oceanside