What’s the saying, a picture is worth a 1,000 words?

If you recall back in December there was discussion on the Swedesford Road Open Space repair project and whether the public works project should move forward in 2011.

As the closest resident to the Swedesford Road Open Space property, I believed a first-hand account of safety issues surrounding the property and its usage was important for the record and I spoke up at the December 21 Board of Supervisors meeting. I offered to the supervisors that for the open space to be available for public use, that the township bears a responsibility to make the property accessible and safe for visitors. I explained that a large section of guard rail at the entrance of the open space is dislodged to a recent accident. I stated that my husband and I do not have an opinion one way or the other about the bridge repair but thought it important to underscore the safety issues when visitors are forced to back out on to Swedesford Road because there is no turnaround space.

One of the supervisors suggested that I was ‘over-dramatizing’ the situation, that there had been no ‘reportable accidents’ and debated my remarks. The supervisor further suggested that visitors to the open space could just look in their rear view mirror and back out on to Swedesford Road.

Fast forward and for the better portion of today, an entire crew of workers, have been replacing the damaged guard rail on Swedesford Road at the entrance of the open space . . . the exact section of the guard rail that I reported to the supervisors in December was caused by an accident. I asked one of the guard rail workers what they were doing . . . and he responded that the police had called to report an accident and need for the guard rail repair. I asked when he received the report for repair; was the report in the last day or two. No, he explained that the report was probably a month ago.

Although I was told at the Board of Supervisors meeting there had been no ‘reportable accidents’ at this site, . . . we have repair to the guard rail at this site occurring today due to an accident. So very interesting!

To be clear, I am not saying (nor did I say at the Board of Supervisors meeting) that the accident occurred as a result of a car entering or exiting the Swedesford Road Open Space. I don’t know whether that was the cause of the accident or not. I only know this is a dangerous location (in the bend of the road) and backing out on to Swedesford Road is not appropriate.

Evidenced by a requirement to replace guard rails due to a ‘reported accident’ at the entrance to the Swedesford Road Open Space, these photos illustrate today’s repair work.