Behind the bus

Traffic engineers seem to have never been behind a bus on Monroe. It stops the traffic in the right lane whenever it picks up or drops off people. With two lanes, cars can move to the left lane. With only one lane, cars would be forced to travel at the same slow speed as buses. The rush hour congestion would be terrible. This is a major bus route.

We need public transportation and more of it. But we also need good traffic flow with minimal congestion.

A “road diet” on Monroe would also generate more pollution from cars idling behind buses. During our winter air inversions, that pollution can cause air quality to drop into levels that trigger State or Federal alerts. That’s a health hazard that especially affects pedestrians who have lung or heart problems.

I’ve driven at night down Monroe and found that many intersections were poorly lit, with parts of the pedestrian crossings shadowed. It is hard to see pedestrians. With new lower-cost LED lights, it should be possible to fully light every part of each intersection’s crosswalk, both marked and unmarked. Also, the pedestrian-triggered flashing lights work well on Hamilton for Gonzaga students. They should be put in for any intersection with significant foot traffic starting with pedestrian school routes. The costs of better lighting would be less than the road construction.

Margaret Mortz

Spokane Valley