We appreciate The Capital’s front-page story on Forest Drive traffic (June 19). However, The Capital described the June 15 shutdown as “brief.” Anyone sitting for two hours trying to get home or, worse, trying to get to the hospital, would not consider the shutdown as brief. This was but one of many traffic Armageddons on Forest Drive.

The Capital’s story left out the 1,273 new housing units and more than 232,000 square feet of commercial space feeding into the Forest Drive corridor, either under construction, approved for construction or in the pipeline.

The article states: “The Crystal Spring, Parkside Preserve, and Chesapeake Grove housing projects would likely add hundreds of additional trips.” The 50,000-square-foot food store at Crystal Spring alone would generate more than 1,000 trips a day just to barely stay in business. How about the 1,000 new residents there and the thousands more from other planned developments?

Another study? We know Forest Drive is over capacity and getting worse. There is simply too much development producing more traffic from housing projects and strip malls with unlimited access. The daily volume and intensity of traffic is overwhelming, even on a Sunday afternoon, let alone during rush hour.

Alan Hyatt’s cavalier suggestion seems to be that it’s OK for many thousands of people to be impacted by an overturned truck, a 7-year-old fleeing across heavy traffic into a car or a kid hit on a bike. What about an ambulance taking a child to the hospital stuck in gridlock?

Another study? Anyone who lives and commutes here can write the study without a single taxpayer dollar!

Let’s start with common sense that will cost taxpayers nothing: No more developments adding traffic and overcrowding schools. Then let’s examine private and commercial feeders that could safely route traffic into Forest Drive.

MARILYNN KATATSKY, ANNAPOLIS

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