Improving Seven Locks Gets a Look
by Monica P. Wraga
Staff Writer, The Gazette

Narrow sidewalks, open culverts create 'a parade of horrors'

County officials are examining ways to give bus riders a place to sit and pedestrians a place to walk along Seven Locks Road in Potomac.

On July 25, Bob Gross, president of Montgomery Square Citizens Association, and Bill Wydro, secretary of Regency Estates Citizens Association, showed officials open culverts that could trip up walkers, narrow sidewalks and bus stops with no place to wait.

"It's like a parade of horrors," Gross said. "You go from one horrible situation to another."

Steven Suprata, of the county Department of Public Works and Transportation, said his recommendations would focus on pedestrian safety. Suprata said he will issue a report on those recommendations within the next few weeks.

It may take a year or more before the improvements are made, however, Suprata said.

Money for the repairs would come from a variety of programs, including the budgets for bus stop improvements, infrastructure repair, intersection improvements, and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, he said.

Standing at the corner of Postoak and Seven Locks roads, Suprata and Gross watched as buses, unable to negotiate the tight turn right onto Postoak Road, rolled over the sidewalk.

"They always go over that bump because there's not room," said Lynn Hirschman, who lives at the corner of Postoak and Seven Locks roads and joined the walk.

Suprata said the county would examine widening the road enough for a bus to turn.

The planners also examined a bus stop in front of Seven Locks Baptist Church, near the intersection with Postoak Road. The bus stop in front of the church is at the edge of an eroded hill, where those waiting, as Laura Muncy, 19, of Potomac did last week, have no place to sit. Muncy said she had no problem standing, however.

Jeff Dunckel, of the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation, said he would look into acquiring a bench for those waiting, which can be installed if at least 12 people use the stop each day. Dunckel said the county also would consider installing a concrete slab for bus riders. Suprata said he would look into adding a crosswalk on Seven Locks Road near Postoak Drive. County representatives also said they would look into widening the road at Seven Locks and Gainsborough roads and replacing grates over culverts that have been crushed by cars. Gross said he was concerned someone could fall in the culverts.

Gross has been calling the county Department of Public Works regularly for the past year and said he was glad someone responded. "It felt like we were talking to deaf ears," he said.