Dear Dan Vekved, County Engineer:

I am prompted once again to write you regarding the above project

after reading a recent article in The Sounder. In the article you are quoted as having said that the County needs to “ratchet this thing down a notch” because of environmental concerns.

My view is that this thing needs to be ratcheted down to extinction for the following reasons.

This project would be another giant step toward urbanizing Orcas

Island. We islanders by choice wish to be left alone and “unimproved” by heavy-handed government hell bent on turning natural beauty into an urban wasteland. By devouring additional land for an expanded right-of-way, cutting down trees, filling in green space, expanding the road’s dimensions, disturbing water flow, and possibly installing concrete sidewalks on both sides of the resulting thoroughfare,

erecting stop signs, et al., the County would be working counter to

the best interests of the residents and their love for the land and

the peaceful beauty of the place they call home.

Economically, this project is insane and would not even be

contemplated if it were funded by locally generated taxes. The U.S.

Government is in the hole to the tune of trillions. The state is

broke and in the hole to the tune of $4,000,000,000. The County says

it is in dire financial straits and needs to make severe cuts in its

budget well into the foreseeable future. Yet this project blithely

squanders non-existent dollars on an unwanted and environmentally

harmful caprice. “If the County doesn’t waste this money, some other

entity will.” Where is there leadership and rationality when the

country desperately needs them?

Safety. The Sounder article states that speeds of 51 mph have been

recorded on this stretch of road. Your website states that the

average observed speed on this stretch of road is well in excess of

the posted limit. Can anyone with a straight face state that widening this road will cause drivers to slow down? I have seen yahoos driving 90 mph+ on I-5. Does anyone believe that widening I-5 to ten lanes in each direction will cause traffic to slow down? I don’t either. In

2004 there was a tragic death on the curve near Terrill Beach Road.

As I recall, three young women were coming home from work early in the morning; their car hit an icy spot in the curve, left the road, and crashed. I doubt this project would have prevented this death from happening. This project is not about safety.

Please don’t let this project become the County’s version of The

Bridge to Nowhere.

Thank you for your attention.

Larry P. Weingarth

Eastsound