To the editor:

On behalf of the many families whose children attend Schwegler Elementary School, I would like to offer my gratitude to the city for finally installing a left turn signal light at the intersection of 23rd and Ousdahl. It’s been requested for many years, and now finally we’ll no longer have to play chicken with the westbound red light offenders in order to get our kids to school on time. Nor will we feel the urge to cut behind Flowerama and risk getting a traffic ticket to avoid getting a tardy slip.

Best of all, even the most moral of drivers will no longer need to sit through multiple stoplights until it’s finally safe to turn left. Unless I am mistaken, this was the only remaining major intersection along the 23rd Street corridor without a left turn signal, even though it has had a turn lane for many years – and ironically, the only intersection with an elementary school less than a block away. There’s lots of red tape, I’m told, since it is a state highway and all.

Somewhere in among the priorities of designer roundabouts, pavestone medians, traffic control devices and lovely new curbs, thank you for seeing the light.

Katherine Barnard,

Lawrence