This week my Clarendon Cycles column touched on a topic that, over the past year, has moved from mildly annoying to outright ridiculous: the proliferation of useless bollards on area trails. Â If Arlington County had merely been slow in removing what are obviously pretty useless obstacles, I can’t say I’d be terribly moved by the issue. Â But someone in Arlington County recently decided that the problem is that we don’t have enough bollards. Â If I didn’t know better, I’d say the new installation at the East Falls Church bridge was an effort at satire, but I don’t think it came out of Arlington County’s art budget.
(Recent bollard ridiculousness isn’t limited to Arlington – the new ones in the middle of the Mount Vernon Trail at the base of the Wilson Bridge? Â Are apparently there to keep Teh Terrorists away. Â That’s right, we’re worried that terrorists just might drive over the Wilson Bridge. Â Christ.)