South Colton S-curve is safe, due to changes

Straightening the South Colton S-curve does not need to be done. When one budgets, one should plan the best expenditure of money. This is not the best plan. At the Feb. 24 public informational meeting, we were told that the estimated construction cost is now $7 million, and I'm sure it will rise above that.

I am the fourth-closest resident to the S-curve and travel through it a minimum of four times a day. Since the state has placed traffic-control lights at each entrance to the curves due to the new, single-lane bridge now over Cold Brook, it has become much safer and drivers' speeds have greatly reduced.

The only reason that I have heard for the straightening of the curve is that the letter S is a nuisance to drivers. A nuisance? If slowing down and being careful is a nuisance, then by all means, annoy me all you like. I would rather you and I be annoyed for three or four minutes, sitting at a traffic light, admiring the town's prettiest scenery, than for you or me to drive fast and possibly get in an accident and kill yourself or one of my children.

If the state (i.e.: you and me) wants to provide local jobs and budget money on a road project, spend it on the curves less than a mile south of the letter S, near my home, where numerous fatalities have happened due to the winding curves where drivers' speed cannot be controlled, no matter how many warning signs the state installs. A "nuisance"? Tell that to family and friends of those killed on these other dangerous curves.

Robert Austin

South Colton