Yesterday, Monday, I walked downtown to the West end of Main Street to
get a haircut.
Mind you, the middle of this walk was reconfigured along with new
sidewalks being added, audible walk signals and truncated domes. I'm
assuming truncated dome is what the dots at curb cuts are called.
In Westbrook, the audible signals are not close to the curb cut unless
there happened to be a structure to attach them to. By what I can tell, the
arrows where the signal is activated do not point in the direction exactly
or sometimes even nearly to where the pedestrian needs to walk to cross the
street safely.
For a person like me who is totally reliant on the cane without being
able to use landmarks, this is a problem especially when the walk is a new,
unfamiliar walk. Also, when the signal is a distance from the curb cut as
many of these are, by the time the pedestrian gets back to the curb cut,
tried to line up with the direction they need to walk, sometimes, the
ability to cross has timed out as well as there not being a good way to line
up with the crosswalk. I'm told the truncated dome is not reliable to line
up to the crosswalk. It is just for the purpose of indicating an end to the
sidewalk.
The new reconfigured sidewalk is very cluttered next to the curb. There
wasn't clear markings on the inside of the sidewalk that was constant either
to be depended on. For me this left me in no man's land. I did the best I
could to follow the curb and listen to traffic to guide me. Due to the
clutter next to the curb, this was quite a task. I found myself veering away
from the traffic many times. One of these times I got messed up smelling
corn chips from the outdorr tables near the Frog & turtle at Valley Square.
Thankfully I didn't upend anyone's lunch!
There were quite a few people trying to help me along the way. I was
polite thanking them but telling them I needed to do this myself.
This walk was very challenging especially because I don't believe I have
walked down to that end of town by myself since the days I still had sight.
It was a beautiful day, I got my haircut, and, I made it home unscaved
and in good cheer.
This was only the third or fourth walk I've done solo since sometime in
2020.
The only way to get better at this business is to do it.
