Didn't see that coming

Last week, I wrote about the new pedestrian trail currently under construction along the old Brookline Drive. It's supposed to be a pedestrian trail linking Duke Park with the South Ellerbe Creek trail alongside Washington Ave., at Club Blvd. Problem is, the way it's constructed, there's nothing to keep cars off it.

But after looking at the guard rail system that's been installed at the foot of Glendale (above), you have to wonder. The little turnout in the middle right of the photo really has nothing in place to prevent a car or pickup truck from driving over the curb onto the paved trail. And don't think that people won't be doing just that.

Things are no better at the Washington St. end of the trail, which is wide open to vehicles of any size. And given the recent headlines and listserv posts about thefts of storm drain gratings and manhole covers, that's a pretty big oversight.

From an email to the neighborhood listserv this morning:

How do we get the city to put up barriers against car traffic on the new walking path from Washington to Acadia?

Down here at the end of Acadia, we've seen several cars try to drive onto the walking path and have even had to stop a few folks who got 10-20 yards down the path. This evening, I watched a car drive relatively fast out onto Acadia from the other direction (having gotten on from Washington, I'm guessing). This is a little concerning considering the number of families with small children we've seen using the path. Even as an adult, I don't want to worry about taking evening walks (or bike rides home from pub crawls) on our new lovely walking path.