• Rebuilding bridge a bad idea • Gone are the days… • No need to be nasty Rebuilding bridge a bad idea The letter in the Forum (TGI, May 30) by Larry Arruda was accurate and outstanding. His statement that
• Rebuilding bridge a bad idea • Gone are the days… • No need to be nasty
Rebuilding bridge a bad idea
The letter in the Forum (TGI, May 30) by Larry Arruda was accurate and outstanding.
His statement that rebuilding “the one-lane Puuopae Bridge in the Wailua Homesteads is dangerous and asinine” is so true. Statistics given by the state Department of Highways and the Kauai Police Department show that there are two times more serious accidents (not just fender-benders) on one-lane bridges as there are on two-lane bridges.
The only reason this bridge is prospectively being rebuilt one lane is due to a few “feel good” people going to Oahu and getting it put on the historical register. And due to their efforts this project has been delayed a number of times and since it was time-sensitive the delay cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars in forfeiture fees. This project began in 2003 under our late Mayor Bryan Baptiste and he wanted the bridge two-lane and wanted it done then, which due to inflation and material costs is going to cost far more now than it did then.
Mr. Arruda’s statement, “The historic significance of this old bridge is non-existent except in the minds of the (some) older generation of Kauai” is right on target. Any neutral person looking at this bridge will see nothing historic about it.
The point of this debate is what intelligent, rational person would ever want something built for historic reasons over the safety of the driving public? Mr. Arruda also makes the valid case that one-lane bridges do not comply with standard highway design and would subject the County of Kauai to unlimited liabilities.
Again he makes his case well and we can only hope that our council and administration will use facts and not feelings to rebuild this bridge (and all one-lane bridges on Kauai) to standard width with pedestrian sidewalks.
Glenn Mickens, Kapaa
Gone are the days …
We’d drive into the Texaco station and a uniformed attendant would run out to your car to serve you. You’d stay in your carwhile he cleaned your windshield as the pump dinged the gallons into your gas tank. He’d check your oil and the tires withoutbeing asked, just all part of the service of filling up your tank.
But what’s an 84-year-old woman to do when she can barely lift the hood of her car to check the oil? Her creaky bonescomplain when she tries to bend over to check the tire pressure and it’s like wrestling an angry snake to fill the tires when theair hose won’t cooperate.
I’m sure many older or handicapped people would be glad to pay extra for these services if they were offered … but where onthe South Shore or Westside will you find such a place?
Joyce Packard, Koloa
No need to be nasty
Michael Mann, lighten up. Kimo Rosen is not your enemy. Kimo makes people think. So do you.
Your caustic remarks are annoying. Educate, don’t intimidate.
Raley Peterson, Waimea
