Reader: open KSC road to save gas

We're going to start sharing more letters to the editor of Florida Today when they're space-related or KSC-related. Here's one about the upcoming closure of one of the primary roads into the space center and the traffic problems that will result.

Reader Bob Allen, of Titusville, writes:

NASA has the opportunity to perform a unique public service for thousands of local residents and visitors while helping to save gasoline when the price is at an all-time high. From now until early May, the bridge on the Max Brewer Parkway to the Canaveral National Seashore will be closed for repairs, forcing beachgoers, fishermen and visitors to the National Wildlife Refuge to make a 60-mile round-trip detour through the entrance in Oak Hill on U.S. 1 in Volusia County. But there is a shorter possible detour on State Road 3, between State Roads 405 and 402. This route, however, goes through the Kennedy Space Center and has controlled public access for security reasons. In essence, it is closed to all but NASA personnel, vendors and others who have business with the space agency. The security concerns could be easily overcome if NASA security personnel would lead caravans of beachgoers through that stretch until the bridge reopens. Security guards are already on duty, and this additional task should cost NASA little or nothing. It would also keep needed revenue pouring into a national park that saw attendance drop 80 percent last time the bridge closed.