Bruce R. Frohman: Make your feelings known about shoddy highway 132 project
Four years ago, large numbers of Modestans provided Caltrans with opinions regarding the 132 West Freeway Project. The new project manager, Grace Magsayo, told me all citizen input previously provided has been discarded and will not be considered in the newest version of the plan.
Is anyone outraged?
The new 132 West Freeway Project plan is worse than the previous proposal. Carpenter Road will have inadequate access and egress; toxic waste piles will stay in the right of way under a concrete cap that will crack over time; new traffic signals will add congested intersections and accidents; congestion will increase along the entire route from Modesto to Interstate 580.
A traffic engineer told me (off the record) that much congestion will be deliberately created to get more construction funding when traffic eventually becomes unbearable.
Your only chance to demand a better project is to attend the Feb. 22 meeting, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Mark Twain Elementary School, 707 S. Emerald Avenue. Tell Caltrans to either build it right the first time or don’t build it at all. Tell those taking comments that you don’t want a project that deliberately creates congestion and degrades the environment.
Bruce R. Frohman, Modesto
This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Bruce R. Frohman: Make your feelings known about shoddy highway 132 project."