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Vail Daily letter: Tourist town traffic

I live here. I drive here. I bike and walk here. I wonder if my neighbors have been to many tourist towns. Holland, Traverse City, Cheboygan, Leelanau, Saugatuck, South Haven and Grand Haven, Michigan: bike lanes plus parallel parking on one side and angle parking on the other. Lots of landscaped barriers and oddly shaped curbs. It forces people to go slow, or park and walk and shop and eat. It makes sense for businesses. It does not make sense for residents to quickly run errands. Too bad — remember what is the No. 1 industry and tax support around here. West Beaver Creek Boulevard is wider than any of the above mentioned city main drags. Those towns are old. Avon is new. Hey neighbors: park your car and walk to the Post Office, bank, drug store, hair salon, library, county clerk’s office, dentist, rec center, coffee shop, etc.

Get over yourselves — the tourists are traffic hazards every day, in every way. The street does not make a Texas, Florida or Illinois driver any more or less able to tell where they are going in a strange town. I wonder how quickly most of us drive through tourist towns like Carmel, Sausalito, Nantucket, Key West, Stowe or Estes Park.

Marisa Sheehan


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