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Cascades residents want sidewalks
Homeowners in the Potomac Terrace neighborhood of Cascades have long been frustrated by the steady flow of pedestrian traffic along their neighborhood streets.Residents who live across Potomac View Road in Sugarland Run often use the streets of Potomac Terrace as a cut-through to the Cascades Marketplace because there are sidewalks there.
Parents with strollers, bicyclists and others take their chances jaywalking the four-lanes of Potomac View Road rather than walk 400 feet to the intersection with Palisade Parkway, where there is a crosswalk but no sidewalk.
“I don't know how anybody can think that is a safe way to cross,” Cascades resident Ed Levine said. “One Saturday morning, a video I made from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. showed over 200 people walk through.”
Residents say installing sidewalks along Palisade Parkway from the intersection with Potomac View Road up to Riverwood Terrace where sidewalks begin would make a big difference.
The constant foot traffic also is a source of concern for homeowners who say it brings vandalism into the community.
“My car has been broken into, my neighbor had his cell phone taken off his front steps while he was outside working on his car, trash cans have been tipped over,” Levine said.
To help combat the problem, a bus stop off Potomac View Road near the entrance to the neighborhood was removed and a piece of sidewalk also was taken out to try to minimize the number of pedestrians.
Some non-Cascades residents have complained that the decision was motivated by racism against Hispanics. Karl Nobert, president of the Cascades HOA, said that is not the case.
“Our main concern was always the safety of pedestrians,” he said. “That was our main motivation.”
Nobert said the Cascades HOA is committed to getting a sidewalk along Palisade Parkway, and board members are hoping Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac) will be able to secure funding for the project this summer.
McGimsey said local gas tax funds are available, but it will be up to the Board of Supervisors to approve the location of sidewalks in the county.
“It makes a lot of sense. We should have a sidewalk along that major road,” McGimsey said. “Pedestrian and bicycle access in general is a really big issue in that area.”
Cascades resident Diane Farah said planting bushes or shrubs in the median on Potomac View Road might also discourage people from cutting across the four-lane road.
“If a natural barrier were placed in the median strip, it would force people to cross at the light where it is safe,” she said. “The county and VDOT must get on board with the issue. It's time to do something before someone does indeed get killed.”
Contact the reporter at ecoe@timespapers.com
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