To the Editor,
Thank you for your illuminating article on the so-called Walker Road ‘Diet’ in Great Falls [“Walker Road ‘Diet’ Nears Completion,” Great Falls Connection, April 2-8, 2014]. It goes a long way towards clearing up the mystery (to me and perhaps to others) of why we had to endure several months of inconvenience while different versions of construction crews plied their trade. If I understand it correctly, we spent a million dollars of scarce taxpayer funds to make the president of the Great Falls Citizens Association and the owner of The Brogue tavern happy. This at a cost nearly four times the original estimate.
To further summarize, we Great Falls residents allegedly needed a crosswalk and it was determined that it could not be done without reducing the number of Walker Road lanes at the Great Falls Center. There were three plans proposed by the Fairfax Department of Transportation and the GFCA chose one of them. How nice. I assume there was broader public input or is the GFCA so politically powerful that these types of decisions can be made without it?
The cost went up because of the need for drainage. That’s today’s world, opines GFCA president Eric Knudsen, blaming the added cost on pesky engineers. Was there no public official that might have stepped in at that point and decided that type of cost increase could not be supported? Can we send the bill to the GFCA and The Brogue?
Reducing the speed limit is probably a good idea but traffic is now funneled through a choke point and turning right into the Safeway parking lot Eastbound is fraught with anxiety. In addition, the left turn lane to head north on Georgetown Pike is now too short and the new curb enclosures are currently an eyesore. Will additional taxpayer dollars be spent to beautify?
It is telling that the only supporting endorsement of the crosswalk that appears in the article, besides those from the GFCA president and the tavern owner, came from someone driving by in a car and not attempting to use the new crosswalk. I anticipate that, at first, Fairfax County Police will be brought in at taxpayer expense to enforce safety at the crosswalk and eventually there will be talk of installing a light there. I also predict continued jaywalking. To paraphrase Phaedrus, a mountain labored and gave birth to a mouse.
Arthur Kingdom III
Great Falls