Where the 'Rustic' Clogs the Road

Montgomery Rules Make It Tough for Farmers to Maneuver

Low-hanging trees and narrow roads are among the obstacles encountered by farm manager Tom Wiles as he drives a corn planter on Montevideo Road, one of 106 roads designated as "rustic" in Montgomery County. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

To commuters, River Road is the clogged thoroughfare that snakes between the District and Montgomery County, lined with its share of strip malls and fast-food restaurants.

Forty miles northwest of downtown Washington, in the town of Dickerson, it's something very different: an unpaved, dusty, one-lane road.

Built in the early 19th century, River Road is one of 106 county-designated "rustic" roads or stretches of road in Montgomery, most of them in the 93,000-acre agricultural reserve.

They are the endangered species of roads in a region where four-lane highways are considered skimpy. "We're trying to maintain some sort of physical reference, visual reference, to try to keep the county's heritage intact," said Mike Seebold, a preservationist and appointee to the county's eight-member advisory committee on rustic roads. "Those are the visions that you need to pass on to different generations."

But those visions -- low-hanging canopies of trees, sharp curves, a narrow average road width of 16 1/2 feet -- have become inconveniences to the people for whom the roads were made: farmers.

With traditional farming less profitable, many farmers are using larger tractors and combines, some as wide as 15 feet, to plant on more land. Their machines, they say, are getting too large for the roads, which are kept as close to their original condition as possible. Compounding the problem is that farmers are increasingly sharing the roads with commuters looking to find alternatives to clogged highways.

More and more, farmers are losing their patience with the inspiration behind John Denver's hit "Take Me Home, Country Roads," co-written by Denver and District native Bill Danoff and his then-wife Taffy Nivert, as the couple drove through northwestern Montgomery to West Virginia.

"It's fine for somebody who is a weekend warrior, but someone who has to use it every day to make a living is a different proposition," said David Scott, owner of Oakridge Farm in Dickerson.

As planting season begins, many farmers say the county's preservation efforts are betraying the original intent of the agricultural reserve by making it harder for them to move their equipment from field to field.

Most rustic roads lack shoulders, curbs, sidewalks or pavement. Widening is, for the most part, prohibited. Canopies of trees are rarely trimmed, partly because of confusion over who is responsible for the work -- the county or the property owner. Maintenance is done as needed for safety but must not destroy the road's character.

"I think there's an inclination to do less, just because by doing less there's a perception that it is more in keeping with the rural character," said County Council member Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty).

This month, the council voted to create a working group that will study various issues involving the agricultural reserve, including the condition of roads and the ban of alternative water and sewer technology that facilitates development.