Memorial Park access

Regarding “Opinion: Why can’t we bike to Memorial Park?” (Feb. 25): While I agree with Joe Cutrufo that the connection between the Buffalo Bayou Park and Memorial Park is a nightmare and that it would be nice if it could somehow be linked safely, I also think that it is probably a pipe dream. Building hike and bike trails along the Centerpoint right-of-way is an excellent plan but we can’t even fix the existing bike trail along White Oak Bayou, which the Harris County Flood Control District tore up.

As far as the other options of getting to Memorial Park, I don’t know why Joe makes bike riding so difficult. Blossom Street, as he points out, is the safest route, an old bike route. Crossing Westcott, Shepherd and Durham, I don’t see as a problem. Westcott has a median so at most you cross two lanes of traffic. Shepherd and Durham both have oneway sections so you just have to be patient and wait for a break in traffic.

As far as the Kinder Land Bridge, it is nice but primarily for pedestrians. On a beautiful Sunday the south path is so crowded with pedestrians it is very difficult for a bike rider.

By the way there are plenty of obnoxious and dangerous bike riders on the hike and bike trails, which many runners and pedestrians will attest to. Just saying that, if we all pay attention to our surroundings and have a little respect for each other — whether pedestrians, bike riders or car drivers — we could all get along better. Paul Herrera, Houston

Regarding “Round three of repairs for Washington circle coming, along with upgraded links to Memorial Park,” (Feb. 21): Your article on the Washington-Westcott roundabout provoked a shudder. I remembered what it was like to live in a city — Doha, Qatar — that once was plagued by traffic circles. Laid out by traffic engineers when the capital was the size of a town, the roundabouts were a modern driver’s nightmare. Who had right of way? Stepping on the gas and “shooting the roundabout,” heedless of traffic in the circle, was a common tactic. One of the first decrees of Sheikh Tamim, the new emir, in 2013 was to do away with all roundabouts and replace them with regular intersections with lights. He received nothing but applause. What I’m saying, in a roundabout way, is that Houston’s current traffic circles — the one at Washington-Westcott and the one near Hermann Park — should be the limit.

Chase Untermeyer, Houston