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Thursday, April 23, 2015
No barrel of laughs for pedestrians on Bradley Blvd. in Bethesda (Photos)
Barrels have been blocking this crosswalk on Bradley Boulevard for some time now. It is located between Offutt Lane and Wisconsin Avenue. What's the message to pedestrians? Nobody in a wheelchair is getting through here currently, which is not legal.
25 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I can confirm that a barrel has been atleast partially blocking that crosswalk for weeks, if not a few months. No explanation on site as to why.
It's been that way since the water main break forced the tearing up of part of the concrete crosswalk within the median. THAT is why the barrels are there. But the barrels are the easy part! Seriously... barrels can be moved aside. (although the concrete needs to be repoured)
ROBERT - You're missing the much bigger story here... go ask the county/state/PEPCO why the associated warning lights for this crosswalk and the other one just up the street are not yet hooked up and operational.
I have inquired, and was told this is a pepco thing now. All I know is a crosswalk gives a false sense of security to pedestrians. You think it's safe, but motorists on Bradley could give two sh-ts about these pedestrian crossings. we need mjore visibility, and would like to see these lights activated within a reasonable timeframe (which is long past). It's downright dangerous, and it is amazing that someone wasn't runover in these crosswalks over the winter.
In addition, the state/county also needs to change the no parking signs around these crosswalks so motorists can actually see people trying to cross insteads of jumping out from behind parked cars. (and while we're at it, get them to ticket people parked within the crosswalks.
It's like these crosswalks were thrown in last year and we were all told "Good Luck!" It was safer when there was no crosswalk and you had to take your life in your own hands.
The crosswalks were a great idea, followed by horrible implementation.
People are so meek. Just use your arms and move the obstruction. I have seen needless cones or tape after some work has been done. I remove it. I never have seen anyone come and put them back up. Maybe I need to walk down to Bradley after work and free the citizens of the area.
"ONCE upon a time there was a farmer and his wife who had one daughter, and she was courted by a gentleman. Every evening he used to come and see her, and stop to supper at the farmhouse, and the daughter used to be sent down into the cellar to draw the beer for supper. So one evening she had gone down to draw the beer, and she happened to look up at the ceiling while she was drawing, and she saw a mallet stuck in one of the beams. It must have been there a long, long time, but somehow or other she had never noticed it before, and she began a-thinking. And she thought it was very dangerous to have that mallet there, for she said to herself: 'Suppose him and me was to be married, and we was to have a son, and he was to grow up to be a man, and come down into the cellar to draw the beer, like as I'm doing now, and the mallet was to fall on his head and kill him, what a dreadful thing it would be!' And she put down the candle and the jug, and sat herself down and began a-crying..."
You've really got to wonder about the folks who think it's OK to block a wheelchair, or suggest a frail senior citizen should be hauling barrels around in the middle of a 6-lane highway.
4:56 PM understands statistics and basic arithmetic. Sadly, you can't learn those basic skills by renting French VHS tapes for your Caribbean Literature course.
4:56: Now if you could just apply those skills to solving the ongoing issue of pedestrian safety in downtown Bethesda, the community would benefit. Can we quote the MoCo political machine's advice to pedestrians - "Move it Yourself!" Remember when you gave that advice about the dumpster on Fairmont? Unbelievable. "Move it yourself!!"
10:27 is right on this. I was planning to file a complaint with MD SHA on it.
I nearly hit a pedestrian in that crosswalk the other day, because there is no visibility. They allow cars to park right up to the crosswalk, so you can't easily see past if someone is waiting in the crosswalk. On top of that, the road curves there so it's even harder to see.
At all other mid-road crosswalks in Bethesda, they don't allow parking within a certain distance from it. Why aren't they applying that rule here?
I saw people cleaning up trash along a trail during my run. Maybe it was for Earth Day. It wasn't their trash and the argument could be made it should be someone else's job like the government. But they did it all the same. I bet they felt a sense of pride for helping their community.
Also, people probably shouldn't get into the habit of moving cones and barrels, when used appropriately they are supposed to be preventing you from encountering something dangerous/hazardous/incomplete, etc...
25 comments:
I can confirm that a barrel has been atleast partially blocking that crosswalk for weeks, if not a few months.
No explanation on site as to why.
It's been that way since the water main break forced the tearing up of part of the concrete crosswalk within the median. THAT is why the barrels are there. But the barrels are the easy part! Seriously... barrels can be moved aside. (although the concrete needs to be repoured)
ROBERT - You're missing the much bigger story here... go ask the county/state/PEPCO why the associated warning lights for this crosswalk and the other one just up the street are not yet hooked up and operational.
I have inquired, and was told this is a pepco thing now. All I know is a crosswalk gives a false sense of security to pedestrians. You think it's safe, but motorists on Bradley could give two sh-ts about these pedestrian crossings. we need mjore visibility, and would like to see these lights activated within a reasonable timeframe (which is long past). It's downright dangerous, and it is amazing that someone wasn't runover in these crosswalks over the winter.
In addition, the state/county also needs to change the no parking signs around these crosswalks so motorists can actually see people trying to cross insteads of jumping out from behind parked cars. (and while we're at it, get them to ticket people parked within the crosswalks.
It's like these crosswalks were thrown in last year and we were all told "Good Luck!" It was safer when there was no crosswalk and you had to take your life in your own hands.
The crosswalks were a great idea, followed by horrible implementation.
10:27 is right. More pedestrian visibility the better on Bradley. Folks blast through there pretty fast.
Pedestrian safety issues persist in downtown Bethesda.
People are so meek. Just use your arms and move the obstruction. I have seen needless cones or tape after some work has been done. I remove it. I never have seen anyone come and put them back up. Maybe I need to walk down to Bradley after work and free the citizens of the area.
10:38: The hell with the disabled or anyone else unable to tear their way through, right?
Really, we're better than that type of thinking.
Dyer is able bodied and could move it, but would rather write a story about it.
It's a story within the greater framework of pedestrian issues in the downtown.
You can't bring change by just ignoring stuff.
10:44 Yes. Of course we are referring to the top 1% most disadvantaged people who travel through these areas.
@ 10:44 AM & 10:46 AM:
I'm reminded of the story of "The Three Sillies":
"ONCE upon a time there was a farmer and his wife who had one daughter, and she was courted by a gentleman. Every evening he used to come and see her, and stop to supper at the farmhouse, and the daughter used to be sent down into the cellar to draw the beer for supper. So one evening she had gone down to draw the beer, and she happened to look up at the ceiling while she was drawing, and she saw a mallet stuck in one of the beams. It must have been there a long, long time, but somehow or other she had never noticed it before, and she began a-thinking. And she thought it was very dangerous to have that mallet there, for she said to herself: 'Suppose him and me was to be married, and we was to have a son, and he was to grow up to be a man, and come down into the cellar to draw the beer, like as I'm doing now, and the mallet was to fall on his head and kill him, what a dreadful thing it would be!' And she put down the candle and the jug, and sat herself down and began a-crying..."
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/eft/eft03.htm
Instead of lighting a candle, Dyer would prefer to curse the darkness.
Why should a pedestrian have to handle a dirty barrel?!?!
You've really got to wonder about the folks who think it's OK to block a wheelchair, or suggest a frail senior citizen should be hauling barrels around in the middle of a 6-lane highway.
10:58: In fact, 1-in-10 Montgomery County residents has a disability. So access issues affect 10% of the population - quite a number of people.
"suggest a frail senior citizen should be hauling barrels around in the middle of a 6-lane highway."
When did Dyer become a "frail senior citizen"?
Nine in 10 people can move the darn barrels but they do not. Sad times we live in.
4:56 PM understands statistics and basic arithmetic. Sadly, you can't learn those basic skills by renting French VHS tapes for your Caribbean Literature course.
4:56: Now if you could just apply those skills to solving the ongoing issue of pedestrian safety in downtown Bethesda, the community would benefit. Can we quote the MoCo political machine's advice to pedestrians - "Move it Yourself!" Remember when you gave that advice about the dumpster on Fairmont? Unbelievable. "Move it yourself!!"
5:08: Try broadening your mind with international literature, and maybe you'll be less likely to give advice like "Move it yourself!"
Too weak, or just too lazy?
@ 5:43 PM -
Actually, folks in other countries would be much less tolerant of your lack of initiative.
6:42 PM -
Done just right, you can accomplish the former without the latter, but it takes some concentration. But it's worth it.
10:27 is right on this. I was planning to file a complaint with MD SHA on it.
I nearly hit a pedestrian in that crosswalk the other day, because there is no visibility. They allow cars to park right up to the crosswalk, so you can't easily see past if someone is waiting in the crosswalk. On top of that, the road curves there so it's even harder to see.
At all other mid-road crosswalks in Bethesda, they don't allow parking within a certain distance from it. Why aren't they applying that rule here?
I saw people cleaning up trash along a trail during my run. Maybe it was for Earth Day. It wasn't their trash and the argument could be made it should be someone else's job like the government. But they did it all the same. I bet they felt a sense of pride for helping their community.
8:14 AM
I see picking up trash as different than moving construction barrels, barriers, cones, etc.
It's great to see trash being picked up, but it's different. Trash is trash.
Also, people probably shouldn't get into the habit of moving cones and barrels, when used appropriately they are supposed to be preventing you from encountering something dangerous/hazardous/incomplete, etc...
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