Although I live toward the South end of the Island, I’m looking forward to the new Island Crest Way configuration. It seems to me that the traffic volume at Merrimount is about the same as it is at 53rd, and, since I’m one of those drivers who’s content to plug along at 35 mph, I don’t see that forming a single lane earlier is going to slow me down substantially.

I appreciate that some may bemoan the loss of the opportunity to weave in and out of traffic in order to pick up a few seconds. But I’m hoping that loss will be offset by the safety advantage of being able to turn into and out of the center lane.

Frankly, I can’t say from here that the new Island Crest Way will be an improvement. I haven’t actually studied the data or the design and, even with an engineering degree, I’m not sure I’d be able to arrive at a firm conclusion even if I had. But it makes intuitive sense to me, and I’m thrilled that the city is finally going forward with the change. It certainly should be an improvement over the patch job we’ve been living with the last few years.

Chris Goelz