The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has begun installing pedestrian refuge islands in the Springfield neighborhood of Bethesda over the last several weeks, on Springfield Drive and Cromwell Drive. Pictured here is the latest that was just constructed on Springfield Drive at Ridgefield Road. They essentially provide a somewhat-protected spot mid-crosswalk where pedestrians can pause. These have become familiar on many urban streets in the county, where trucks and reckless drivers tend to damage or dislodge the "State Law" signage. It will be interesting to see how long these last.
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Wait, there’s so much traffic through there that pedestrians actually *need* this [I assume expensive] addition to their neighborhood? Smells like a 40-something, new-money approach. Recently arrived to the community, flush with cash and thinking themselves rulers of the world who are entitled to whatever whims flit across their consciousness. Adjust the Earth’s rotation two degrees, to keep the morning sun from waking Harper or the twins, Olivia and Wren? It shall be done. What about, instead of spending who knows how many tens of thousands of dollars on these “refuge islands,” pedestrians instead might consider not stepping into the path of oncoming traffic or not ambling in the road, might stop meandering lazily down the middle of the street at a passive-aggressive snail’s pace, as if it were a paved private park, or would those solutions infringe on the deluded fantasy of neighborhood residents, that the world is to contort itself to accommodate the self-absorbed hubris of these locals?
The thermometer *says* it’s currently 90 degrees outside, but reading this convinces me there are isolated pockets of blizzard-quality snowflakes.
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