Sometimes the process does work. Sometimes the government is responsive to the citizens and everyone wins.
The article in the Sept. 22 issue headlined "SHA set to begin design phase of Route 29 widening" tells only part of the story regarding the access road from Old Columbia Road to Twin Knolls Road.
The residents of the affected area — the lower Wandering Way area and the three homes on Old Columbia Road — engaged in a long process with the State Highway Administration that goes back more than a year and a half. Our community attended many meetings with SHA officials from the head of SHA to the engineers who are working on this specific project. We also communicated through site visits, a petition, phone calls, letters and emails.
We found that SHA listened to us and worked hard and successfully to minimize the impact of the access road on our community and on the environment. Our community is very pleased with the selected plan for the access road from Old Columbia Road to Twin Knolls Road.
And, equally important in this case, the "government" also includes our local elected officials, state senators and delegates and the Columbia Association board of directors. Whenever we asked, we received support from these officials all along the way. I'm afraid that if I tried to mention by name every government official who responded positively to our community, this letter would be way too long and I might inadvertently miss someone. So, this letter is also a public "thank you" to you all.
Barbara L. Russell
Oakland Mills
