Sligo Avenue in 2005

These are among the first few sidewalk photos I ever took - circa 2005.

This particular location has been "fixed," but the conditions are still very similar along this stretch of Sligo Avenue --7 years later.

Walking the dog

This afternoon I took Opie for a walk down to Sligo Neighborhood Park - down at the eastern end of my street. These uncropped photos were taken along the way. The total length of Sligo Avenue is less than a mile. The distance between my home and the park can't be more that 1.300 feet. All of these photos were taken in that distance, on only the south side. All of the photos except for one face east.

Blind Man's Nightmare

On Friday, my daughter got out of school early, so we decided to go to Downtown Silver Spring for lunch. We left home about 1:30 PM. We stopped at Safeway on the way there, so we approached the intersection of Wayne and Fenton from the west side of Fenton. The crosswalk was blocked, as you can see in these photos, and sort-of see in the video. So, we did as the signs said and crossed to the east side of Fenton. - which was also blocked. Both sides of the street - effectively the entire intersection, was closed to pedestrians - I THINK. People were still crossing, so we did too.






















There were no real thoughtful directions for pedestrians. Just the usual Crosswalk closed used other side signs. Only this time the joke is on you because BOTH SIDE are closed!

No police officer of flagman to direct traffic, just a blind guy who would be lost in an intersection he knows so well , if not for his daughter being by his side. . If I had approached this intersection alone, I would not know exactly how to negotiate it. Walking in the street with traffic is dangerous, no matter who you are - but people were doing it here - right in front of where the new library is going. Right through where the Purple Line is supposed to travel.

I have no idea how long both sides were blocked and people were waliing in the street with the vehicles. The obstruction on the west side of Fenton had been removed by the time we headed back, 30 - minutes later. Could have been dozens of pedestrians who passed through this dangerous work zone with no protection - could have been many more.

What does this say about how important pedestrians are in the master plan? We mean nothing. Hardly worth mentioning.

I am so discouraged. What am I up against? Is it even worth the fight? To have worked so long on this and have a situation like this take place... I just can't explain it. I could just throw-up my hands...

Gun It!

Here's a short video showing something that is happening more and more lately - someone driving a business vehicle gunning it to get through the intersection as they take a left turn. The vehicles in the oncoming lane have to wait for the pedestrians, so they gun-it. It has happened to me three time in the past week, and more than a dozen times in the last year. The intersection of Wayne and Fenton is the worst.


Speaking of Wayne X Fenton, I also run-into many More bicyclists riding their bikes through the crosswalk - such as in the video from that location below. While I know it is not illegal to ride bikes on the sidewalk in Montgomery County, I think cyclists should be expected to obey traffic laws when riding in the street - even if that part of the street is a crosswalk. You should get off your bike and walk through the crosswalk, or wait for the traffic signal to say it's OK to proceed on you8r bike in the street. It is dangerous and inconsiderate to ride your bike through a crosswalk.. It's a crosswalk - not a crossride.

More Sligo ROW issues

Last week we got a notice from WSSC that they would be doing water main work on Sligo Avenue over the next two months. This wasn't a surprise, as they have been doing work on other streets nearby, and the ROW was painted to indicate buried utilities the week before.

I also noticed that the fire hydrants that lay in the middle of the sidewalks in a few places were painted. Yesterday I took this photo on my way to Downtown Silver Spring.


Here are a couple of examples. There are as many as six of them.

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Last year KB from DOT told us that moving these hydrants was cost-prohibitive. What about now? How can DOT be so unaware of what is going-on? Is it my responsibility to do this for them?

I sent an email to my Councilmember's office to ask about this. I tried to find information about this project online, and found a number to call. I thought I'd wait and see whet I heard from the Councilmember's office first. While on the website I looked for information about WSSC's ADA efforts, and didn't find anything. Do they have a program?

I expect that this work will last another twenty+ years, which means that if the corrections are left undone, the problems will exist fro another twenty+ years. This is the kind of situation that sparked the legislation in the first place. A classic example of why ADA is important, and why public utilities need to have ADA plans and procedures. ADA is meaningless without compliance.

AND -- WHERE IS THE DEPARTMENT OF PERMITTING SERVICES??? WSSC probably has a blank permit to do this stuff (or NOT do this stuff). DOT tells me that they are no longer responsible for utilities in ROW, that it is the responsibility of DPS. Talk about passing the buck...

This is another episode in ROW mismanagement and government neglect of what is supposed to be an important issue. County DOT told us last year that moving the hydrants would be cost=prohibitive. No one is looking at ADA issues when major utilities are improved.

I realize that I am making some assumptions here. I won't mind being proved wrong.


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Truck You, Too

At around lunchtime on Fridaay morning, my wife and I were making our way from the Silver Spring Metro Station to home. On Bonifant St., near Georgia Ave, we walked-up on this truck parked on the sidewalk. No sign, no nothing that you should expect to find at a n obstruction like this.. Just deal with it, I guess. We crossed to the other side, mid-block.

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Nice job, Traffic Systems Inc. Blatantly ignoring Federal and State AND County Law in broad daylight, and no one bats an eye. Nice work endangering the public with impunity. Very professional.

Later down the road, we came upon this vehicle parked completely blocking the sidewalk in front of the AAMOCO station.



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