Route will improve road safety in area

My congratulations to Barry Gage for his letter to the editor, "Bypass will improve access, shopping."

His opinions and mine are virtually identical; good for you Mr. Gage.

I have long believed a key piece of strategy by the byway's opponents (NICAN and others) was that by prolonged opposition the passage of time would greatly increase construction costs (it has) so much the lTD would abandon the project (their miscalculation). So the next time an opponent makes cost an issue that point should be driven home for everyone to be made aware of.

In addition there is a safety issue that cannot be overstated. There have been at least four fatalities on the current through-town route, none of which would have happened had the byway been in existence at the time of their occurrence.

Granted there was fault charged in every one of those tragedies and while it does in no way lessen culpability in any of the aforementioned incidents the fact remains that in every case at least one of the parties involved would not have been there, thus no accidents and four people would still be alive.

Perhaps that many fatalities for the number of miles traveled may fall within statistical norms, but try telling that to the families of those who lost their loved ones. Also it is inevitable that there will be others the longer Sandpoint is without the byway.

Finally one comment to Steve Brixen's letter immediately preceding that of Mr. Gage's; Mr. Brixen, that part of Sand Creek is a mud hole much of the time.

DR. JAMES KEMP

Sandpoint