Speeding Through Eastham
To the editor:
I read with interest “Eastham Wants a Main Street, Not a Highway,” about the town’s struggles with Route 6 [Oct. 21, front page].
As a home owner both off Cape and in Wellfleet, I travel through Eastham regularly. I empathize with Eastham residents about the way Route 6 impacts local foot, bicycle, and automobile traffic.
I am amazed at the poor planning that created the current Route 6 between Dennis and Provincetown. The road screams for continuation of the four-lane highway from Dennis to the Orleans rotary, while Eastham suffers from a similar lack of foresight.
Here are a few suggestions from a casual observer:
- Reduce the entire length of Route 6 in Eastham to two lanes for through traffic, with a generous number of center turning lanes at key points.
- Add one or two intelligent traffic lights.
- Raise the speed limit to 45 or 50. Forty is simply too low for the highway’s requirements, and stands no chance of compliance. Unrealistically low speed limits allow motorists to decide for themselves what is reasonable.
- Add real bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the highway, not a strip of asphalt rumbling over tree roots.
- Move commercial activity off of Route 6 at strategic points, or plan a real town center. The two obvious points are at Samoset and Depot roads and the Main Street Mercantile area. The latter could be much more visually appealing, walkable, and accessible.
It would cost money and take several years to complete a plan like this. State and federal grants could help, and an updated master plan would allow the residents of Eastham to more fully enjoy their homes on such a beautiful part of Cape Cod.
Bill Baldwin
Wellfleet and Wayland
The Freedom to Vote
To the editor:
I have stood with a small group of people at the windmill in Eastham every Saturday morning for the past few months. Why? To express my deep concern for protecting the right to vote for every eligible person in our country.
That means fair, safe, and reasonable access to polling places at every election. It also means that all of our eligible votes count and matter. Several states have recently passed laws that would empower state legislatures to set aside counted election results if they see fit and decide for themselves who the winner is.
Just stop and think what that means. State legislatures, not the majority of the people, can decide who the next president is in America.
The Freedom to Vote Act now before Congress will create standards for our nation’s elections. These standards would protect access to voting for all citizens, protect our elections from foreign and domestic interference, set guidelines for money in politics, and help states upgrade and protect state election systems.
Democracy takes work. We need to engage and act. Nothing is more fundamental for our country right now than this.
Kathleen Miller
Brewster
Fleet Funding
To the editor:
It was a whale of a day for the Fleet Fund at Moby Dick’s Restaurant on Sept. 24!
This letter is a grateful shout from the masthead to the community of Wellfleet and especially to our hosts, Todd and Mignon Barry of Moby’s, for their generous support of our first public fundraiser as a new nonprofit. Your kindness allows us to serve Wellfleet residents in need of emergency financial assistance.
Paula Erickson
Wellfleet
The writer is president of the Fleet Fund’s board. See thefleetfund.org for further information.
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