WAR ON PEDESTRIANS CONTINUES IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

If you've tried navigating downtown Bethesda on foot this year, you know that pedestrian safety has been more of an afterthought than a priority. The Montgomery County Council is now finally discussing the issue of illegal sidewalk closures at downtown Bethesda construction sites - four-and-a-half months after I first reported it on here, and nearly as long since citizen complaints were filed regarding the closures on Fairmont Avenue. Norfolk Avenue, St. Elmo Avenue, Old Georgetown Road, Arlington Road and Bethesda Avenue are just some of the places where sidewalks closed (or remain closed) for extended periods, in violation of county code.

But there's an additional pedestrian safety problem now at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Battery Lane. Would you believe...there are no controls or crossing signals for pedestrians to cross Battery Lane at this intersection?

Walk? Don't Walk?
Hello?

"Press button to cross?" There is no button to press! And no signal to tell you when to cross, even if there had been.

Button? What button?

The new controls are at the intersection, but they remain in their packaging! Your taxpayer dollars at work. How about less poster ads of teens with tread marks on their faces, and a little more breaking out the old tool box and installing the dang signals?

While developers have been responsible for the majority of sidewalk closures in Bethesda, this problem is strictly a government one. As a state highway, Old Georgetown Road falls under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Administration.

What's the explanation here?

See the box tied around
the pole at right? The
pedestrian controls are
in there

This is a busy, state highway
intersection