Friday, July 30, 2010

Georgia Avenue Pedestrian Road Safety Audit


I n March, 2009 I participated in a Road Safety Audit of Georgia Avenue. I spent 6 hours over two days with a team of people made of representatives from MCDOT, SHA, MC Police, Mel Tull, and neighborhood residents. This group was led by consultants hired by Montgomery County - as part of their HIA ( High Incidence Area) program. We walked Georgia from Sligo to Spring several times, taking note of conditions, talking about possible solutions, and discussing perspectives. I was their blind person, mostly.

MCDOT did the right thing here. This could be considered a proactive approach - even as part of a reactive program.They sent people who could participate at a high level. SHA sent a note-taker. She was a very nice person, but she had only been with SHA for 6 months, and couldn't really add anything to the discussion. She certainly did not know enough to answer questions about how SHA would see things. There was a feeling in the room ( which I believe was openly expressed) that this wasn't a priority for SHA.

Sgt Harmon was there from MC Police, and he was a great contributor.

About a year ago I started asking to see the report from the RSA. I took some calls, and reminding people that we spent two days working on the project, It wasn't cheap, so where is the report? It took a while, but I got the draft report a few weeks later. I asked if the team could get together once more to discuss the report, and I made a few suggestions about how to amend the document -- and that was the last I heard ofrom anyone. The repost has still not been released as a finished document.

That report provided a snapshot of the conditions on Georgia Avenue. Now that we have waited over a year, conditions have changed. Still, I think the 115-page report should be released so that the community can look it over. The result were interesting.

1 comment:

  1. They need to build double sided sidewalks on all the roads you indicated in the near downtown neighborhoods now if they are serious about encouraging walking where people allready do, all though some what unsafely. You provide a great service to be on these issues, I and my little children very much appreciate it.

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