Serving Bread

Dear Gov. Schwarzenegger,

I write you this letter in regards to public works on Southern California’s freeways. As a long time southern California resident, I’m sure you are aware of the traffic that plagues the southland. Of course, most Angelinos understand that traffic is part of living in Los Angeles. I understand that living in such a populous city produces traffic. I understand and expect traffic when an accident occurs.

It is unfortunate, however, that the state of California is directly responsible for traffic and accidents on California’s freeways through its public works programs. And I do not accept traffic due to Caltrans and the state’s public works projects that are illogically formulated.

Below are my gripes and solutions:

1. 1. As you know, the West LA stretch of the 405 is one of the most congested roads in the world. In the past two years, Caltrans has shutdown several exits due to construction. Check this out Mr. Governor:
   

   Exits heading South on 405 between Sunset and I-10	Status
   Sunset	Usually open, but sometimes closed at nights
   Waterford	Closed
   Wilshire	Usually open, but sometimes closed at nights (but Wilshire West was recently closed during the day
   Santa Monica	Usually open
   Olympic	Closed indefinately

2. Mr. Governor, there have been times when I have tried to get on the freeway at Sunset blvd., only to be re-routed and re-routed until Venice Blvd.My Solution is very simple: Every other on-ramp and exit must remain open during construction. In other words, construction cannot happen up and down the freeway.
3. 2. From Sunset down to the airport area, drivers see construction zones and construction barricades. These barricades narrow the freeways and increase the chance of accidents. Pass a law that will allow drivers to sue Caltrans and/or any other public works company that is doing construction if the investigation finds that the accident was primarily due to the construction. The hope here of course is to enforce a quicker turn around on these constructions
4. 3. Give a tax-break to every tax-payer who drives on that stretch of the freeway at least 3 days a week. If the state is about to lose money because of Caltrans, it will put even more pressure on the group to complete its work faster.

Finally, Governor, you might feel overwhelmed by my requests and at this rate, Caltrans does not the kind of leadership to actually work more efficiently. So governor, I hereby offer my services to you. If you need me to run Caltrans for you (on a part-time basis), I am ready to step into that job. Since you do not take a salary from the State of California, I will take my compensation from that part of the state’s budget, so the cost to the state would be negligeable.

Sincerely,

YD Ekmekji

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