Opinion: Commerce streets all need help, not just Lee

Recently, The East Texan received a letter to the editor in which the reader suggested that we write a column encouraging the City of Commerce to repair Lee Street, which runs between Prairie Crossing and Henderson Hall. While I certainly appreciate the feedback, I couldn't disagree more.

It is not that I don't understand the current condition of Lee Street – I drive on it almost every day. The broken asphalt and potholes reduce your maximum speed in a car to roughly five miles an hour and wreak havoc on your shocks. It is a very frustrating drive.

That being said, there are numerous reasons why the City of Commerce should spend the few funds they have for street repairs on maintaining other streets in Commerce and not Lee Street.

The first is that Lee Street simply doesn't receive as much traffic as Live Oak, Monroe or Washington Streets. Commerce doesn't have a lot of money to use on repairing streets, so these high-traffic ones should be at the top of their list. Lee is a small side street and not a major road in Commerce, plenty of which need work.

Secondly, Lee Street has some of the highest foot traffic of any street on campus, with the more than 250 Prairie Crossing residents leaving the apartment complex at various times. The last thing that students need to worry about as they stumble to class in the morning are cars racing down a well-paved road at 50 mph. If there is any street in Commerce you should take your time driving on, it is Lee Street. The fact that there are no crosswalks or lights of any kind to warn drivers that students are crossing is worrisome. Most car drivers don't even stop for students that are preparing to cross the street. Do you think they're going to be more willing to stop if they can fly down Lee Street?

I think everyone in Commerce would agree that the streets need some serious work, and I know that the City of Commerce is indexing the streets as an initial step to repairing them. Let them focus on the more important ones.