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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRegarding Bill Oesterle’s column about 38th Street [“38th Street is not a highway, but it’s treated like one,” Forefront, Sept. 13], we’ve let traffic engineers design our cities. That needs to stop. They are NOT urban planners/designers and should not be designing our neighborhoods.
They don’t care about quality of life. Traffic engineers’ number one goal is to move the highest volume of traffic, at maximum speed, with the least amount of congestion. That’s it. Period. People walking are a problem, because they impede car traffic. Bus lanes are a problem, because they impede car traffic. Bicycles are a problem, because they impede car traffic. Quality of life is a problem, because it means cars aren’t the priority.
The city needs to give the Department of Metropolitan Development and urban planners/designers control over city design. The mayor needs to strongly enforce this. Designing for people must be the priority. Until then, Indianapolis will continue to stagnate.
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Walter Chambers
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