Closing street will inconvenience drivers

I can't believe the City Council last week is seriously considering closing a portion of Second Avenue SE for the purpose of easing the walk between two sections of a new medical facility being built at Second Avenue and 10th Street. This is ridiculous.

Our family has lived in Cedar Rapids for nearly 70 years. We've seen a number of closures for convenience that have cost the drivers uncounted inconveniences.

Think about closing Second Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues SE. This was done so the architect could design the Ground Transportation Building on a diagonal between First and Third streets. How about closing Sixth Avenue between Eighth and 10th streets for the convenience of the Mercy Medical Center people? Then there was closing B Avenue between 12th and 13th streets for the convenience of Coe College.

One-way streets were deemed necessary to improve traffic flow. This was before I-380 was completed. Now the need has gone. It is especially aggravating and unnecessary for Seventh and Eighth streets to be one way all the way from I-380 to 12th Avenue. And we're supposedly concerned about traffic flow to downtown businesses.

Russ Colton

Cedar Rapids