For the last two years, Harriet Scott has been fighting a losing battle to keep caution markers erected along a stretch of Georgetown Pike near her neighborhood in McLean. The yellow and black markers ran from Mackall Avenue to Douglass Drive, and were all that stood between the roadway and a narrow paved walking trail. One by one they have all disappeared.
"I've been thinking of taking those orange witch caps cones and putting them there," said Scott
In September 2004, Scott called the office of Dranesville District Supervisor Joan DuBois and informed the staff that several of the markers had been knocked down and needed to be replaced, as they serve as an important safety feature for pedestrians on the path. Scott was told that new markers would be erected, but according to her, "they never replaced the ones that were knocked down."
Last month, Scott noticed that there are now no markers at all between Mackall Avenue and Douglass Drive. Since the stretch is very narrow and runs between a high wooden fence and the roadway, Scott believes that it is particularly dangerous for pedestrians.
"I noticed that there are hundreds of those markers in other places," said Scott. "It's just ridiculous that we don't have any along this one stretch."
ROSEMARY RYAN, a legislative aid in DuBois' office, said that the missing markers have been replaced over the last two years, but "keep getting knocked down by cars."
"We have this problem everywhere that we use these things," said Ryan. "As fast as we get them up, they knock them down. It's amazing to me how quickly they get knocked down by cars."
Ryan said that part of the problem lies in the construction of the markers.
"They are designed not to damage your car, but the result of that is that when you hit them, they just fall over," said Ryan. "I think the county staff is becoming very un-enamored of these things."
The markers are installed by Fairfax County rather than the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) because technically, the paved trail should not be there at all.
"It wouldn't be allowed to be put in there now," said Ryan. "VDOT requires much larger separation between the road and the trail, and their view is that the trail shouldn't be there anyway."
Ryan has contacted county maintenance staff to request new markers, but said that it might not happen immediately as they must wait for funds to become available.
"I think they are trying to wait until the start of the new fiscal year," said Ryan.