 Sidewalks are a critical part of our community’s transportation infrastructure. We rely on them for safety. We rely on them to link our neighborhoods and to improve our quality of life.
We wouldn’t accept a trash can blocking one of our roads and we rarely allow construction projects to shut down a lane of traffic for months or even years. We shouldn’t accept or allow those things to happen on our sidewalks either.
That’s why we’re taking action on sidewalk safety and pedestrian access, a topic I’ve been focused on since taking office a year ago – starting with the walking tour of downtown Bethesda I hosted on my second full day in office.
- Last week, I sent a letter along with my colleagues on the Transportation Committee to the County’s Department of Environmental Protection requesting they review trash and recycling collection contractors to prevent the placement of bins blocking sidewalks. It’s an issue that can have tragic and even fatal consequences. On August 1, we lost Jacob Cassell, a 17-year-old student at Churchill High School who was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk along Old Georgetown Road when he reportedly attempted to swerve out of the way of a trash bin, lost control, and fell into the roadway where he was hit by a car.
- Yesterday, I introduced Bill 38-19 to raise our standards for when to allow a construction project to close a sidewalk and to require permittees provide protected pedestrian access such as a covered walkway or protected pathway. Maintaining open sidewalks and pedestrian access next to construction sites in our urban areas should be the default, not the exception.
You can see my remarks on Bill 38-19 in the video above.
Thank you for your interest in pedestrian and bicyclist safety in our community. As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at councilmember.friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov with your thoughts and ideas.
Sincerely,
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