Rails over road

Re “710 Freeway tunnel proposal resurfaces,” Jan. 19

Completing the 710 Freeway would degrade, not improve, traffic in Los Angeles. The extension would increase traffic on the freeway and on streets feeding the freeway in every city it afflicts.

The freeway serves primarily freight traffic. The smarter solution would be to tear down the entire freeway and replace it with two freight tracks and two Metro tracks. These would take up less space than the current freeway lanes, opening up land for better uses -- from commerce to domiciles to civic spaces. And tracks can be put underground more easily than wide, wasteful freeways.

Richard Risemberg

Los Angeles