Sidewalks & Jaywalking

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to walk from Grand Street to Barnes & Noble. It's a short walk, and there are (I thought) plenty of good sidewalks and crossing lights all the way there. As you can see from the photo below, the sidewalk abruptly and randomly ends just past St. Mary's. There's no crosswalk where the sidewalk ends. So I jaywalked across to the sidewalk on the other side.



The rest of the walk to the mall was on a good sidewalk, except for the disturbing way the guard rail doesn't protect pedestrians from out-of-control cars. Instead, the guard rail pretty much guarantees that the pedestrian will be crushed between the car and the rail.


I hit a new problem when I reached the mall entrance. There is no walkway to the stores, and the railing is positioned so close to the curb that you have to walk in the roadway, which is barely wide enough for cars.


The really sad thing is that this is one of the better areas for pedestrians in Waterbury.