I have now read Cleve Rolfe’s open letter to the Seaside powers-that-be regarding the Seaside bypass (or lack thereof) twice, first in The Daily Astorian, and secondly in the Seaside Signal (“Need a bypass,” The Daily Astorian, July 10).

As a resident of Seaside, I have to say that I feel his observations are spot on. I have no way of knowing the actual statistics, but it seems to me on each of these incredibly traffic-choked summer Saturdays that a large portion (perhaps as much as 50 percent) of the traffic on Roosevelt Drive is pass-through, with no intention of stopping in Seaside.

Why, oh why, are we forcing these folks (including Mr. Rolfe), who simply wish to go past Seaside, to endure these horrible traffic snarls? Not to mention, of course, the residents of Seaside (like myself) who hunker down in their homes during these periods to avoid getting caught up in this for even a simple trip, say, to the library.

Recently I was in Beaverton taking care of some business when, in learning that I live in Seaside, the proprietor’s wife described to me how, on a recent Saturday, she came out to the coast to drop of her daughter with her grandmother in Gearhart, when she came upon stop-and-go traffic some distance out on U.S. Highway 26, caused, of course, by the backup from Seaside.

Apparently, what should have been a relatively brief trip turned into one of some extra hours. All I could do was to extend my condolences and commiserate with her a bit on our city’s lack of consideration for passersby, like herself, by not vigorously pursuing a bypass.

I understand that projects of the magnitude of a bypass past Seaside take years from the onset to fulfillment, with many players (the Oregon Department of Transportation, the county, the city, and, perhaps even the feds) involved. However, if we, the residents of Seaside, and our elected officials, do not seek this, and plan for it, it will never happen, and the traffic will simply get worse.

Do we really want Seaside weekend traffic to be like rush hour on the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia in Portland? Gridlock? That’s where we are headed if we do not soon begin to pursue a bypass.

Rod Dawson

Seaside