This article was written 小萝莉影视鈥檚 news partner and republished with permission.
Arlington County, Virginia, has promised to build a sidewalk for every street, but when it comes to some residential neighborhoods, progress is slow.
The main way sidewalks are built in residential areas is via the聽 which was created in 1964 and allows neighbors to weigh in on proposed sidewalk designs, among other small local projects that are proposed for county funding.
Officials told ARLnow the program is meant to give weight to resident feedback, which means concerns over parking and frontage sometimes trump pedestrian considerations.
Now, the Arlington County Board is , and asking questions such as, 鈥淒o NC Projects contribute to an appropriate balance between neighborhood and countywide infrastructure goals and objectives?鈥� according to 聽with a聽working group meeting last week.
Program manager Tim McIntosh told ARLnow during an interview last month that it’s a 鈥渓ofty goal鈥� to build a sidewalk on at least one side of every street, and it鈥檚聽also hard to evaluate how much progress has been made.
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鈥淚 don鈥檛 know that there are any statistics on how many sidewalks have been built since that plan has been put in place,鈥� McIntosh said.
鈥淭here are several challenges to building sidewalks on every street,鈥� Arlington Department of Environmental Services spokesman Eric Balliet said.聽鈥淚n addition to the availability of eligible funding sources for improvements in neighborhoods, there are competing interests for the right of way on every street.鈥�
鈥淚n some cases, adding a full sidewalk with curb and gutter would come at the expense of on-street parking, or it could impact private properties in the form of tree removal, yard regrading and retaining walls,鈥� he added. 鈥淭here also may be differences among residents on a street about providing needed easements. Our job is to balance these interests, as well as costs, as we implement projects.鈥�
McIntosh said the public is generally supportive and wants to see sidewalks installed, 鈥淏ut once you start to get into the weeds and talk about where it鈥檚 going to be, people get a little more reserved about, 鈥榃ell, geez, how is this going to affect my frontage? Or the parking on my street?’鈥�
Bob Cannon, a Lee Heights resident, has long wanted a sidewalk on a particular stretch of the 2300-2400 blocks of N.聽Vernon Street, in the Donaldson Run neighborhood.
The street is unmarked and cars regularly speed around curves, he said.
In May, one car drove over the curb near Cannon鈥檚 house, blew out a tire and hit his neighbor鈥檚 car. He said crashes like this are common and pose a danger to pedestrians who have nowhere to walk but on the road.
Cannon has frequently asked the county to build a sidewalk, or add speed bumps, bollards or lane paint to improve safety,聽according to emails reviewed by ARLnow.
鈥淚 do not understand what the problem is,鈥� said Cannon. 鈥淭he solution is simple.鈥�
Thus far, the county has not revealed plans to add a sidewalk to a portion of the road in question.
鈥淐an it improve? Absolutely,鈥� said 聽program director Henry T. Dunbar of the sidewalk building process. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we really push people to get involved.鈥�
Dunbar said WalkArlington is training residents about pedestrian safety and how they can work with organizations such as the to push for safety improvements, which includes sidewalks, on their streets.
One way he said WalkArlington helps is by conducting 鈥渨alk audits鈥� of neighborhoods with residents and identifying danger spots.
The pedestrian element for the county鈥檚 Master Transportation Plan was last updated in 2008. At the time, noted that:
Arlington currently lacks a complete sidewalk on almost 20% of its local streets. While work is under way to construct missing sidewalks, at the current pace of funding and construction, the sidewalk network is not likely to be complete for another 25 to 30 years.
Balliet said the Department of Environmental Services is currently reviewing the pedestrian element and deciding when it can begin updates, as it recently did with the plan鈥檚聽.
Photo courtesy Bob Cannon
