Jen Paragas has lived in the neighborhood near Huntington Parkway for a long time and said there’s no doubt the existing traffic calming measures on the road haven’t worked.
That’s something the Paragas family noticed once the school year started in September, when their two young children headed to Bradley Hills Elementary School. It’s a route that required the children, then 6 and 8, to cross the “heart stopping” intersection of Huntington Parkway at Hampden Lane.
“A lot of people using it to get from Bradley [Lane] to Old Georgetown [Road], they treat it like a highway,” Jay Paragas said. “You don’t really see people at the intersection until the last minute. Even with adults, it’s very difficult to cross safely.”
With help from staff in Councilmember Roger Berliner’s office and after a door-to-door petition drive performed largely by Finn Paragas, 8, and Ava Paragas, 7, the county agreed to install a crosswalk at the intersection.
Construction started Wednesday.
“The neighborhood was in favor of it. It’s kind of unified two residential parts of Bethesda,” Jay Paragas said. “It’s a good lesson in civics and a good example of the county recognizing that they are ultimately accountable to the citizens, no matter how small the issue.”
It’s the second example in the last few months of kids helping to get the county to build pedestrian facilities in Bethesda neighborhoods. In February, MCDOT agreed to replace a muddy walking path between Cornish Road and Glenbrook Road in the Edgemoor neighborhood.
That action was spurred by 11-year-old Lilah Katz, who went to neighborhood 4th of July picnics, the Bethesda Central Farm Market and stood out on the path to get more than 400 signatures for her petition.
Huntington Parkway is a two-lane, east-west road with a large grassy median that connects Bradley Lane with Old Georgetown Road. Commuters regularly disregard the 30 mile per hour speed limit, despite speed bumps and slight curves the county installed to discourage speeding.
The county originally came back to the petitioners and said they wouldn’t do the crosswalk project at Hampden Lane because there was a crosswalk at nearby Moorland Lane. But after more signatures, and more prodding from the neighborhood, MCDOT started the project by pouring a new sidewalk on Wednesday.
Ava and Finn Paragas said their pitch was simple: The road is too dangerous.
“We were very grateful,” Jay Paragas said.
