LETTERS

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TOUGH CHOICES The 2016 election is going to be determined by whether Republicans who hate Trump outnumber Democrats who hate Hillary. Democracy is premised philosophically on voting for candidates, ideologies and ideas which will prevail by majority vote going forward.

This is almost reminiscent of 2012 when 3 million fundamentalists walked into the voting booth and asked themselves the key question concerning Romney: “Can I trust a Mormon who has only one wife?” This is why who is selected as the vice-presidential candidate on both sides will be crucial. Impeachment cannot be ruled out of the equation after everyone sobers up and says, “Holy crap, what have we done?” Bill Klein Springfield

NEED FOR SPEED I have read about the high violation rate of the speed limit on the MacArthur extension and have the following comments.

The reason the speed limit violation rate is so high is because the speed limits were not established in accordance with Illinois’ policies on establishing speed limits. The violation rate alone would require the limits to be raised according to those policies and traffic engineering principles. Multiple studies over the years have shown that drivers tend to drive at a speed they feel comfortable, regardless of the marked speed. Also, speed limits marked too low tend to make a roadway less safe because of the difference between the lowest speed and the highest speed. In addition, the speed limit on the new section of Recreation Drive/Knight’s Action Park Drive is also not marked according to the speed policies, as well as the advisory speeds on the curves. I was involved with checking and setting speed zones and advisory speeds for more than 40 years. It is my opinion that these speed limits are unenforceable and probably not legal.

Also, the traffic signal timings appear to be set for the design traffic (projected traffic 20 years after construction) rather than the current traffic, which causes unnecessary delays at the various intersections.

Tyre W. Rees Springfield

SIDELINE SIDEWALKS Apologies in advance to the miniscule minority who take a walk outside a park, to forward thinking people and to the self I thought I was, but why does Springfield factor eight-foot-wide sidewalks into construction planning? (“MacArthur makeover,” by Patrick Yeagle, April 28.)

In the 60s and 70s I wandered this town on foot every day. It wasn’t unusual for me to walk from Southern View to Southeast High School or Washington Park or the fairgrounds. I was alone out there. There were no pedestrians except for downtown, which was quite lively. Forty-five years later I’ve moved back to Springfield. There is no pedestrian action anywhere, sadly, especially downtown.

I know sidewalks look civilized and we optimistically hope they will encourage people to walk but money is tight and it is time to be frugal. Smart people of the future will be able to cope with adding sidewalks. This is one can to kick down the road for later when Springfield starts walking. Sue Anderson Springfield