Common Sense Loses Again

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Editor,

How sad that the efforts to widen that six miles of congested dangerous canyon road has been killed again.  I suspect that most of the loudest voices against improving things for every resident and visitor came from the south part of Laguna where they can use the nice safe four lane Crown Valley road.  I recognize that some of these same voices of never-ending opposition to progress also opposed the widening of Laguna Canyon road years ago; a road where many were killed and injured on that two lane dangerous section.

Fortunately, sane people at Caltrans and others finally prevailed and went ahead, after years of delay, and built a beautiful highway in that section of the Laguna Canyon. A section that is now safer for man and beast and is never congested, except sometimes the incoming section where it is caused by a backup from the remaining two lane bottleneck section.

Widening all the rest of Laguna Canyon road into four lanes would not be an engineering feat and should be accomplished concurrently with the undergrounding of the utilities. I have nothing to gain by supporting a good and safe road as I am too old to ever get to use it, even if it was started it today. I just hate to see common sense ignored over and over again and that younger residents and visitors will have to continue suffering the delays and dangers of the last remaining two lane section.

Dave Connell, Laguna Beach

 

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Sorry Dave, but you mistakenly assume it’s “common sense” to widen Laguna Canyon Road leading into Laguna Beach and naively use the widened portion of Hwy 133 as evidence. You attempt to support this assertion by stating that the traffic flows well along that section of road except when it gets backed up due to the two-lane section in the canyon. H.L. Mencken perhaps answered your “common sense” solution best when he said “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” Widening Laguna Canyon Road would produce little if any benefit as traffic would still be constrained by traffic and small roads within the village. History has demonstrated clearly that we cannot widened our way out of traffic problems, we can only destroy the very heart and character of our village by doing so.

    According to our visitor’s bureau we host nearly 5 million visitors a year, or roughly 200 visitors a year for every resident. Laguna Beach has more visitors each year than does Yellowstone National Park (3 million per year) or any other National Park except for the Grand Canyon. As was done at the Grand Canyon and at Yosemite, we need to develop solutions that will transport visitors to their destination and leave their car outside of town. “Common sense” therefore entails we take a visionary approach – that means finding long-term solutions that will not compromise and damage what makes Laguna Beach special or turn our town into a caricature of itself. Satellite parking and perhaps a light-rail may be good places to begin, but that remains to be determined and that determination is not easy as our town’s challenges are somewhat unique.

    It won’t be easy, but let’s not mistake or somehow confuse “common sense” solutions with solutions that are thoughtful, wise, and appropriate.

    Dr. Ari Grayson

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