Letter to editor: County may have gone overboard on San Vicente Road project

RE: San Vincente Road work letter in the Dec. 18 issue of Sentinel.

Indeed, the writer may have a point. Perhaps the county did not go far enough widening and straightening our lovely bucolic drive through the country to homes on the south side.

Indeed, a limited access freeway to include proper overpasses, exits and entrance ramps at Wildcat, Dye Road and a special overhead ramp to the high school parking lot would allow the speedier drivers to zip all of six miles through traffic while those more cautious could continue to plod along at the posted limit, or below?

I wonder if the complainant was the driver who rode my bumper today, bright lights on, while I was cruising through the construction zone at the posted limit? Of course I pulled over as soon as it was safe, allowing that driver to screech away with the throaty roar of his un-muffled V-8 engine (but he was just ahead at the Hanson Road stoplight).

Or perhaps it was his Dad whom I followed home through the same construction at 15 miles below the limit, giving him five car lengths “safety zone” with 20 or more “bumper-riding” behind me.

Nope. In fact, the county likely overspent by turning a scenic country drive into a wide boulevard with huge shoulders, ripping down scenic hillsides and tearing out ancient oaks. Yes, the road needed widening and proper shoulders for pull-offs, but that could have been done for a fraction of the cost.

And, the residual larger percentage saved might have gone to four-laning Route 67, at least around the bends approaching Mt. Woodson, benefiting all Ramonans.

But the die is cast. The speedier will be able to go faster. The cautious will have a wide pull-off lane. And, there’ll be lots of cheap oak firewood.