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Wallace Baine’s article on Highway 1 was excellent, but for scapegoating the commuters as the problem for traffic congestion, rather than facing the reality that so many of us commute to work – from manufacturers to contractors – and that the Central Coast is a mecca for tourists. Our economic engine is agricultural, along with wine, lumber and tourism. Together, the Central Coast continues to be a valuable economic resource.
Public transportation doesn’t factor in this, especially when we consider Uber and the potential for driverless vehicles as a means for alternative transportation.
Unfortunately, Santa Cruz to Monterey counties will always have flow delays, accidents, traffic jams, construction from Highway 1 closure issues. In plain English, we do not have the infrastructure nor the geographical area to support a public or private transportation network. These counties were not meant to expand; however, developers and local officials continue to have ambitious projects without an infrastructure to support a growing community or fixing and maintaining our existing roads.
Baine ends his manifesto saying “toll roads” is a means to an end, which only underscores his lack of a solution. That’s OK, the Regional Transportation Commission, Caltrans and our electeds don’t have one, either. They have prioritized bicycle lanes in spending our transportation funds rather than fixing our local roads or providing additional highway lanes for cars. They continue to throw-away public funds into projects like the whale bridge-to-nowhere, building empty high-rises, destroying downtown with a needless new Warriors arena, building luxury hotels or continuously proposing another annual property assessment hike with bonds or other measures, like sales tax increases.
Central Coast leaders can do better and must – at least until we all own a flying taxi (which is being tested elsewhere in the Bay Area) or use the ocean to commute like the 1920s.
Jeff Staben
Soquel