A well-known engineer (I believe it was Geordi LaForge) once said the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That mathematical theorem has finally come true for South Silver Spring pedestrians.
A broad, brick-paved sidewalk has opened on East-West Highway near Blair Mill Road, after more than 18 months without a walkway on the street’s east side. The tree-lined sidewalk now allows pedestrians to coast down East-West from Georgia Avenue to Bethesda (if one was so inclined) without impediment.
New sidewalk outside The Veridian in South Silver Spring
Construction on The Veridian high-rise apartments closed the sidewalk there without providing a temporary walkway. And with construction on two more apartment buildings cooking on the west side of East-West Highway, pedestrians were forced to snake left and right across the street to get anywhere between the NOAA office buildings and businesses near South Silver Spring’s Arts Alley.
Now, one can waddle away from Mayorga Coffee to the Silver Spring Metro station without spilling a drop of latte.
A few steps from the shiny new sidewalk, another one is beginning to emerge on the south side of Blair Mill Road. A temporary wooden walkway next to a condo construction site was removed recently, though the path still needs a little patchwork — its surface is a lumpy mess of gravel and asphalt, instead of Silver Spring’s signature brickface.
Ongoing construction on Blair Mill’s north side at East-West Highway keep that sidewalk closed. It’s unknown when that path will reopen.
Photos: The brand-new sidewalk along the east side of East-West Highway in South Silver Spring. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.
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Back in high-school, due to “integration busing” when I lived in Silver Spring and attended B-CC, I did actually walk East-West Highway from Sundale to Bethesda on multiple occasions. Much of that has sidewalk, but there are still portions lacking…
Will there be a cross walk across East-West at the corner of Newell??
I believe so. A crossing light has been installed, and there is a dip in the curb for wheelchair access.
Thank GOD. Now they just have to put in the crosswalk from Acorn Park across East-West to Veridian. It looks like that’s the plan — there are curb cuts there, and I think a pedestrian light with a bag over it…
ooh, the Penguin and I posted simultaneously! SSynergy.
This reminds me of how lame the new sidewalk is along 29 just above the beltway in Four Corners. It’s great that the state is finally building a sidewalk, but if they were going to go to all the trouble and expense of digging into hills and building retaining walls, they should really have made the sidewalk wide enough that it could be used by both bikes and pedestrians (a bicycle on 29 is suicide at least 16 or more hours out of the day).
RE: the sidewalk on 29–my guess is that they didn’t make the sidewalk any wider because for every few feet back they go, the higher those retaining walls go (and the cost). And often it’s not just about the expense of a few extra rows of block…for every threshold of height and pressure of the hill retained, the engineering and stabilization requirements go up. Bottom line: the county/state probably found the extra wall expense “prohibitive”.
I totally agree with Mike. Route 29 really needs a bike route. What a missed opportunity.
Yes, Route 29 badly needs a bike route just above the beltway in Four Corners and the narrow sidewalk they are putting in is a joke. Why can we always find room for six lanes of pavement for cars and then not have room for a sidewalk or trail?
There is also PARKING!!!!
Jennifer, about those bricks, are they actual sidewalk bricks, or are they the “slick bricks” that spur so many falls on Fenton Street? Thanks for all this reporting and snapping, by the way!
Editor’s note: Not sure what kind of bricks Fenton Street is rocking, but the bricks along East-West Highway are similar to those outside NOAA, near the Metro station. — JD (Nov 13, 2008)
The NOAA area used to have tiles similar to those on Metro platforms. It was awful! I think they have been replaced. This is a slippery day. If any brave souls want to check out these new bricks, please report back.
PS-when we start getting “wintry mix” will the red-shirted guys keep this new sidewalk clear, or will that be up to Veridian management?
The bricks outside NOAA are still slippery. I hope the new sidewalk isn’t made of the same stuff? I slip there every time it rains or snows.