To the editor:

Roger Boyd’s dream of having a greatly enlarged wetlands, improved access and a visitors center in the Haskell Baker Wetlands is a worthy dream, one shared by many, minus the highway.

Many Americans think roads are the ticket to economic prosperity. However, now that the price of oil is topping $60 a barrel, resulting in soaring gas prices, and the ozone pollution in Kansas City is bounding out of EPA’s clean air compliance, highway building isn’t making sense – not even a discretely placed SLT.

As the planet warms, ozone pollution increases and pricey gasoline becomes unaffordable to many. Therefore, cities are rethinking their transportation systems. Since 1993, Portland expanded its transit system, built light rail lines, compacted new development, adopted fees to reflect the full cost of driving, made streets bicycle and pedestrian friendly, and provided alternatives to people driving alone. These moves decreased the city’s carbon emissions by more than 20 percent.

Building the SLT makes sense if a sprawled, polluted, automobile-dependent region is what we want. However, at a time when our resources are scarce, it seems like a short-sighted quick fix with irretrievable losses. Instead of trotting out the old – the SLT – Lawrence needs to look seriously at what other green-thinking regions are doing in regional transportation planning, planning that reduces carbon emissions and builds livable communities. At the very least, our region deserves a system with a healthy modal split, focused on reducing our rate of miles driven per vehicle.

Carey Maynard-Moody,

Lawrence