Clopper Road tar-fest

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Clopper Road tar-fest

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As a hardworking, taxpaying citizen of Montgomery County, I feel I have the right to ask why the decision to tar Clopper Road to death was chosen over the more appropriate solution: repaving the road? Several miles stretching from Gaithersburg to Germantown is one giant, ugly mess.

This section of Clopper Road was in serious disrepair, but this tar-fest was not the solution. It is nothing but an unsightly, wasteful use of tax dollars. To see that several hundred gallons of tar have been spread in tic-tac-toe board fashion, snaking along for several miles, is the stupidest thing I have ever seen.

Interstate 270 is currently being resurfaced through Gaithersburg and Rockville, and it didn’t need it nearly as bad as Clopper Road did.

There are other issues with this that are not only aesthetic in nature. The stretch of Clopper from Longdraft Road up to Great Seneca Highway is very narrow and winding, and extremely dark at night. It’s especially dangerous when wet. The yellow and white lane lines were repainted not long ago. Now, in several areas you can’t see the lines at all because they are covered over with tar. I want to know when the painting crew will be out again so I can see where I’m going at night.

Also, did anyone involved in this decision to quick fix Clopper with all this tar stop to think what it is going to be like in the coming months when the temperature is regularly in the 90s and close to 100 degrees? Despite the fact that there is someone right behind the tar spreader guy spraying some type of quick-dry chemical on it, the stuff is still soft, and it going to stay soft as long as it’s hot. What a mess that’s going to be for everyone in July and August. As for me, I’ll be taking my new car home via Great Seneca Highway.

Tammy Jensen, Germantown