RE: Hillsboro Blvd. lane elimination

Dear Editor: [In the April 10 Observer newspaper] The city wants to reduce Hillsboro Boulevard from 6 lanes to 4 lanes from Dixie Highway to Federal Highway to make it a Complete Street and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

I think lane reduction will make that stretch more dangerous because of the bottleneck caused by planned rail traffic increases.

The Florida East Coast (FEC) railroad is in the process of adding more powerful locomotives to haul more freight coming into the expanded Port Everglades. Also, plans include adding Tri-Rail and All Aboard Florida trains to the FEC tracks. All of this expansion will increase traffic from 14 trains a day to over 100 a day, which will cause HUGE traffic backups.

These backups will extend further and last longer because motorists will be merging from 6 to 4 lanes.

Frustration could lead to road rage incidents, making this stretch more dangerous.

Hillsboro Boulevard does not fi t the government’s concept of a Complete Street, but it is complete with 6 lanes, sidewalks for pedestrians and cyclists, and the right lane has bus stops for mass transit.

Lane reduction combined with dramatically increased street closings for rail traffi c is a really bad idea.

Anne Lloyd

Deerfi eld Beach

RE: Here we beach again-in Deerfield

Dear Editor: [In the June 5 Observer newspaper] Why could not the State of Florida or County, or City, through law of eminent domain, look into the possibility of claiming those parcels of the beach held privately for the good of the public?

Vince Opromolla

Deerfi eld Beach