A Flexible Schedule

I feel sorry for the merchants along Santa Monica Boulevard who are seeing their businesses suffer because of road construction (“A Big Bump in the Road for Businesses,” March 15). Their plight, unfortunately, isn’t unusual. There’s a project along Rosecrans Boulevard west of the San Diego Freeway, apparently a new storm drain or sewer line. Although it is months behind schedule and disrupting traffic and commerce, like the Santa Monica project, there is little apparent progress from week to week. Caltrans solution? It changed the large orange signs that describe the project by pasting a “5” over the “4” to extend the completion date from November 2004 to November 2005. We’re still stuck in traffic, but feel better knowing that the project is back on schedule.

R. Douglas Collins

Hermosa Beach