I saw the write up in last Friday’s paper on Bridge Ave. I think they’re way better off in leaving the road the way it is. Maybe even fixing it so there is a left turn lane that goes onto Hawthorne Street. They even could do it the way they do it on different streets down in Phoenix, Ariz. And that’s putting up signs that hang under the traffic lights prohibiting left-hand turns. They have those signs all over Phoenix and some of its suburbs. That would keep the traffic moving during rush hours. A sign doesn’t cost that much.

But Vaughn and his firm recommended the four-lane-divided-road option. And the estimated cost of the road construction is more than $20 million. That doesn’t include the cost of buying everybody’s house and buying the businesses. Plus you have to pay someone to knock all the house’s down and clean up the mess.

Do you really think the city and county would give you what your house is worth? I don’t think so. They would do everything in their power to save a buck. A car dealer never gives you what your car is worth, so why would the city or county give you what your house is worth?

Vaughn and his firm don’t even live in Albert Lea, so how do they know what Albert Lea needs and doesn’t need? All those traffic counts should not be taken into consideration. It’s not 7,000 to 10,000 different cars a day that travel on Bridge Avenue. You have a lot of people that go out to the shopping center and back. So a lot of those cars are getting counted twice. And as far as all those accidents, I think most of those accidents happen out by Northbridge Mall.

Steve Hansen

Albert Lea