Letters to the editor Feb. 2
Roundabout concerns
Concerning the potential of a new roundabout on U.S. 2, consider the existing one.
It took up a tremendous amount of real estate. It took over a year to build. The cost was in the millions. It was supposed to reduce congestion. It does nothing of the sort. At certain times of day there are so many vehicles on U.S. 2 that the cross traffic just sits there for a very long time.
There are two cross walk signs but no lights or flashers to protect the pedestrian. How do they get across? They run like hell and hope for the best. Driving along at 60 mph the only indication that there is a roundabout coming in 100 feet are two little yellow signs. Try to see them while looking into a glaring sunrise. 60 mph is 88 feet per second. You have about 1 second to go from 60 mph to a complete stop. I am surprised that someone has not gone right across and been killed.
Roundabouts are great when they are where they belong. In residential areas where traffic is moving relatively slowly. The one at Costco is great. Glacier High School works fine. At MSU in Bozeman it is perfect. The roundabout is a clear advance over the four-way stop. But they do not belong on high-speed highways.
The solution for Batavia is simple – the humble traffic light. Two lanes down to U.S. 2. One is right turn only and the other one left turn only. Vehicles on the right don’t care about the light. They enter the highway whenever there is space. The lefties? They just have to wait. When the light turns green, they go. When it turns red, they stop. Same for the pedestrian.
— Jeff Van Fleet, Marion
D.C. tragedy
This morning, I heard about the tragedy at Reagan National Airport. Having lived in the D.C. area for 15 years and flown into Reagan many times, including at night, the images were haunting. A true tragedy and I have heartfelt sympathy for all the families involved.
Reagan National is a small airport in a very congested airspace; lots going on with high-level important folks flying around in helicopters because they get to the White House or wherever they want to go faster than taking a car.
What I found incredibly tragic this morning was watching our current president having a news conference and blaming the previous administration for the accident that happened last night — not once, but over and over. And then a bunch of underlings stand up after President Trump runs on for 15 minutes and thank the boss for his wonderful leadership. Gimme a break.
The focus should be on consoling those who have lost their loved ones, not extolling the virtues of the boss and fault finding when one really does not have all the facts or analysis to clearly establish what happened.
I encourage all Montanans to contact our elected congressional leaders and tell them clearly the current president needs to stand up and deliver appropriate messages in these kinds of situations and then sit down and shut up.
— Paul Bradford, Libby