I couldn't believe my eyes at first, when I read your July 12 editorial urging a master plan to tackle the woes of our main highway ("Route 1 task force must think big"). But there it was - the word "aesthetic."

Thanks for recognizing (if indirectly) that not only has the road become unsafe, but also unsightly. The route we use to travel to beautiful beaches and towns displays the very opposite of beauty - a mess of overhead wires, asphalt oceans, out-of-control signage (both private and public), and commercial decay.

The few grassy medians that survive have no landscaping.

Ironically, you call it "our main street," but it offers none of the visual appeal, pedestrian (or vehicular) safety, or amenities of the real thing.

How did this happen? The popularity of our beaches led to more traffic, which led to the need for "improving" the highway, which led to more traffic, more improvements, and on and on it has gone for decades. The result: an incredibly wide and gruesome gash.

Is it too much to ask that Route 1 be both safe and easy on the eyes? Any redesign for the former should include the latter.

Arnold Berke
Rehoboth Beach