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Where the 'Rustic' Clogs the Road
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)
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But, Knapp said, "it's sort of a Catch-22. You want to preserve the rural character of the reserve, and part of that is preserving agriculture. But by preserving the rural character, you inhibit the ability to do agriculture."
One recent sunny afternoon, farmer Billy Willard kept the headlights of his white Chevrolet Suburban on as it snaked through West Willard Road to warn approaching sedans and SUVs of what was behind him: a 32-foot-wide John Deere corn planter driven by his farm manager at 22 mph. With parts folded, it was about 15 feet wide and covered both sides of the road.
The Poolesville road was named for Willard's family, whose farm has been producing grain, corn and wheat since Willard's great-great-grandfather Dewalt J. Willard bought the property in 1871. Established between 1865 and 1879, West Willard Road is paved but narrow and hilly, with dense trees on each side.
The planter pulled out of the driveway and encountered a UPS truck going in the opposite direction. With no shoulder to retreat to, the planter and the truck stopped. The truck was the first to budge, pulling over into the grass.
Not far down the road, Willard approached a sharp curve with trees that limited his visibility. He waved and flashed his lights at a small sedan. The car sped by.
"I don't think people are malicious," Willard said. "I think they're ignorant on what we're doing."
The county created the rustic roads program in the late 1980s after residents complained about efforts to widen two one-lane bridges and pave a road, said Glenn Orlin, the council's deputy staff director, who was on a task force that studied the issue.
"The idea is to leave this alone. It's too precious as an aesthetic resource," Orlin said.
Mason Hopkins, who farms in Dickerson, said the county needs to balance aesthetics with practicality. "We're not asking for a four-lane highway," he said. "But a two-foot paved shoulder alongside what we have now? That would go a long way."
To preservationists, it's a slippery slope.
"If you widen every [rustic] road to 31 feet and put shoulders on them," Seebold said, "then suddenly it's like every road."
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