Spinning their wheels in Orange County

Re “Tunnel Foes Digging In for Battle,” Nov. 21

I imagine that Irvine City Councilman Larry Agran and the other council members of Irvine and Laguna Beach don’t spend much time stuck in traffic, let alone on the 91 Freeway. Orange County has transportation problems, and yet when solutions are proposed, such as this highway tunnel under the Santa Ana Mountains to Riverside County, the El Toro Airport or the ill-fated Centerline light-rail project, residents and political leaders turn them down. Meanwhile, we’re stuck in traffic while millions are spent conducting studies.

Listen up, Orange County residents: Your home county is urbanizing, whether you like it or not. Fifty years ago, your cherished suburban tracts were orange groves. In another 50, they will be home to an estimated 3.7 million people.

The only thing to do is to be prepared by building the right transportation solutions now.

YOSEF AHMED

Anaheim

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Councilman Agran hit the nail on the head: We need to treat the disease, not the symptoms. The “disease” here is that far too many people are commuting to Orange County from the Inland Empire for work.

Rather than spend on costly “medicines” (a tunnel), which will lead to more development requiring more assistance later, let’s put an end to the problem: Use some of that tunnel money to get companies with higher-paying positions to locate in or relocate themselves to the Inland Empire. Then, at least during commuting hours, there will be less demand for use of the Riverside Freeway. Doing so will cost a fraction of building a tunnel, and it will probably harm each city’s quality of life a lot less.

ADAM KARP

Irvine