To the Editor:

Recent complaints from residents of Clam Point regarding neighborhood cut-through traffic (Reporter, Sept. 8, page 3) highlights the difficulty of managing traffic in the streets of Boston, which were never planned to handle such a high number of vehicle trips. The drivers using Mill and Everdean Streets are only seeking to avoid the congestion of Fields Corner and the northern section of Dorchester Avenue and to find a quicker route to and from Morrissey Boulevard and I-93/US-1/MA-3.

Due to extremely poor foresight, planning and design, there is no way to enter northbound Morrissey Boulevard in the 0.5 mile between Freeport Street and Popes Hill Street. There is also no I-93/US-1/MA-3 northbound entry ramp or southbound exit ramp in the 2.25 miles between Neponset Circle and Columbia Road. This leaves a large swath of Dorchester, the city's largest and most populous neighborhood, without convenient access to the major parkway and expressway that skirt its eastern edge.

Drivers seeking to reach the northbound expressway have two choices: 1) follow congested Dorchester Avenue all the way north to the Columbia Road entrance ramp, or 2) cut through Clam Point on either Victory Road, Mill Street, Everdean Street or Park Street to Freeport Street, turning left onto Morrissey Boulevard and entering the expressway at Columbia Road. Some traffic through Clam Point also consists of drivers leaving the shopping centers along the west side of Morrissey Boulevard who do not want to drive southbound all the way to the U-turn just past Pope's Hill Street and then wait for the left turn signal at Freeport Street.

The solution: allow left hand turns from eastbound Victory Road onto northbound Morrissey Boulevard and install signs at Adams Street and Neponset Avenue and Victory Road directing drivers to Morrissey Boulevard and I-93/US-1/MA-3. Long-term planning should also include the construction of a northbound expressway on-ramp and southbound expressway off-ramp in the vicinity of Freeport Street and Victory Road. Of course, the city would have to be willing to consider the greater good and designate Victory Road as the urban arterial that it already has become. Not everyone can be happy, and not every street can be a quiet neighborhood lane.

The city's piecemeal approach to transportation planning does nothing more than pit neighbors against neighbors. It is time for some long-term, comprehensive planning at the city level.

Joshuah David Mello

Thornley Street