Central Ave (MD-214). Photo by Bradley Heard.

We now know the ultimate price of Prince George’s County’s abysmal failure to clear the County’s pedestrian pathways in a timely manner after the record-setting snowstorms earlier this month: People get killed.

On the morning of Thursday, February 18, 2010, 32-year-old Asa Fukuhara, a promising electrical engineer who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and resided in Temple Hills, was struck from behind and killed by a hit-and-run driver as he walked the short 0.4 mile distance from his apartment complex to the Naylor Road Metro station.

How did this tragic accident happen? According to the Washington Post, “Police say they think Fukuhara was walking in the road to avoid snow-covered sidewalks.”

These snow-covered sidewalks are within walking distance of a major public transit facility, and more than eight days after the last major snowfall of the recent blizzard. How can this be?

To be sure, the “Snowpocalypse” of February 2010, with its combined back-to-back snowfall accumulations of more than 30 inches over six days, shattered all previous records and was wholly atypical for the mid-Atlantic region. It wouldn’t have made financial or practical sense for any local government in this region to be prepared to recover instantaneously from such an anomaly.

But Mr. Fukuhara didn’t die in the immediate aftermath of the storm. This happened eight days later. The federal government had reopened six days earlier on Friday, February 12, and Metro had resumed normal operations at all stations and on all bus routes that same day.

A bus stop (left) and Lyndon Hill Elementary (right) on Old Central Ave. Photos by Bradley Heard.

Even the Prince George’s County Public Schools had reopened the day before Mr. Fukuhara’s accident, on February 17, albeit with some trepidation, “due to the severe snow and ice conditions of sidewalks and bus stops in the surrounding neighborhoods of schools.”

The county’s failure to ensure that sidewalks and other pedestrian and bicycle paths are promptly cleared of snow and ice—particularly in and around transit station areas, schools, bus stops, and other areas where pedestrians should reasonably be expected—reflects its overall pattern of disregarding the safety and comfort needs of citizens who either choose not to or are not able to travel in automobiles. Walking, bicycling, and using public transportation are seen as second-class modes of travel that interfere with and, thus, should be subordinated to the almighty, gas-guzzling, smog-producing, road-clogging, traffic jam-engendering single-occupancy vehicle.

It is the same twisted logic and sentiment that causes the county to build bigger and wider roads without adequate sidewalks and bike paths, and approve massive suburban sprawl developments rather than focusing on providing high quality transit- and pedestrian-oriented development in its already-urbanized transit-rich inner-beltway core. With those kinds of misplaced priorities, it is small wonder that the county now finds itself with more than 1,800 miles (and 5,000 lane miles) of roads to maintain.

Lydon Hill Elementary (left) and M.L. King Jr. Hwy (MD-704) (right). Photos by Bradley Heard.

After being deluged with citizen complaints, the County Council requested a briefing from the Department of Public Works & Transportation concerning its response to and management of the recent snowstorms. In his public statement requesting the briefing on February 16, council member Samuel H. Dean (D–Dist. 6), a current candidate for county executive in 2010, first expressed his thanks “that no great personal loss or misfortune occurred” as a result of the County’s handling of the snow removal effort.

Sadly, two days later, Mr. Dean’s declaration proved to be woefully premature, as Asa Fukuhara’s unnecessary death bore witness to the tragic consequences of county’s inadequate snow removal and pedestrian safety plans. Dean also wanted DPW&T to address particular “[c]oncerns around questions like what is meant by ‘passable roads,’ and why cul-de-sacs are prioritized differently from other streets.” What was missing from the council member’s statement was a request that DPW&T and/or the county’s Police Department explain why, eight days after the conclusion of a snowfall—even a record snowfall—the county’s pedestrian paths could not be made “passable” under any commonsense notion of that word for schoolchildren, transit riders, and others who depend on them.

But for the grace of God, I could have been Asa Fukuhara. Like him, I reside less than a half-mile from a Metro station (in my case, the Addison Road–Seat Pleasant station). On the same morning that Mr. Fukuhara set out walking to work, I, too, left my house on foot and headed to the Metro.

My neighborhood street, though “passable” for automobiles, contains no sidewalks, even though the county’s plans have consistently called for all roads within the vicinity of the Metro station area to have sidewalks on both sides of the street. That forced me to march up the middle of the street—dodging cars as necessary.

Once I got to Central Avenue (MD-214), I faced the same situation as Mr. Fukuhara: the poorly-designed-but-nevertheless-existing sidewalks on this six-lane major arterial road were blocked by mounds of snow and ice, leaving me with no choice but to walk in the vehicle lanes on Central Avenue. I hoped and prayed, with each step, that some crazy, inattentive or inexperienced driver did not accidentally careen into me.

Fortunately, unlike Mr. Fukuhara, I made it to the Metro. And when I returned to the Metro station later that night, I had to repeat the same harrowing experience as I had earlier in the morning. Only this time, it was dark, and I’d already read the sad news about Mr. Fukuhara.

All of Prince George’s County’s citizens, including pedestrians and transit riders, should be afforded the ability and opportunity to travel safely throughout the county. County officials should make that happen, and we should hold them accountable for doing so.