Heavy Traffic

Annapolis, always a popular tourist destination on nice fall weekends, will be busier than usual over the next three days.Everyone is coming to Maryland's capital city -- motorcyclists, Navy football fans and visitors to the Kunta Kinte Commemoration and Heritage Celebration.The Kunta Kinte festival, in its sixth year, will begin with a parade tonight. The parade will start at 6:30 p.m. at Germantown Elementary School and continue along Cedar Park Road to Taylor Avenue.The route will follow Taylor Avenue to Glenwood Street, continue to Clay Street, go right to Calvert Street and across Rowe Boulevard to St. John's College.

Del. Glen Glass, a Republican representing southern and eastern Harford County District 34A in the Maryland House of Delegates, recently issued the following statement on the proposed move of the Abingdon Walmart to a site at Route 924 and Plumtree Road: Maryland State Del. Glen Glass (R - Harford, District 34A), announced that he continues to oppose the proposed Wal-Mart relocation at the Plumtree Road and Route 924 intersection. Del. Glass publicly applauded County Executive David Craig's assertion that Wal-Mart could expand at its current location.

I am not entirely unsympathetic to homeowners who live on South Rolling Road. I know, all too well, the frustrations of living on a major roadway. I live on Old Frederick Road, which also receives a lot of traffic — most of it well over the posted speed limit. I can't park at the curb in front of my own home; parking there is legal, but not wise. My last car was totaled on a beautiful Sunday afternoon during the spring by a young, distracted driver. Mine was not the first car to be hit while parked there.

Editor:  The recent plan of the Abingdon Walmart to close and move to Bel Air as a 24 hour Super Walmart has sparked a very loud debate among community residents and Harford County Government officials. I would like to take the time to explain my current position.  Abingdon is part of my district and I absolutely oppose this plan. It is very inconvenient for my constituents to have to drive to Bel Air to shop at Walmart especially when the current location is conveniently located off of I-95 and Route 24. Having made the drive myself, I can verify the rigors that they would encounter.

A distraught man led police on a chase through quiet city neighborhoods and heavy traffic, evading three road blocks and twice ramming a police car before crashing into a tree just west of the city, police said.No one was hurt during the chase, which involved at least 12 police vehicles and a Maryland State Police helicopter, and reached speeds of 50 mph.Police said they were called to the home of Todd Pendleton, 51, after neighbors complained that he was standing in his yard and yelling.

About 50 North Laurel Park residents voiced their concerns last night to a developer who plans to build more than 60 new homes in a community they say is already too crowded.The problems, residents say, are too many children and not enough space in area schools, heavy traffic, and inadequate storm water drainage."The traffic pattern is going to be awful," said Chris Maynard, who lives on Baltimore Avenue with a proposed construction site behind his house.Speed bumps have been added to Baltimore Avenue to slow cars passing through the residential neighborhood, but the people expressed fears that more homes will add to the traffic volume on the two-lane through street and increase the danger to their children.

Several Catonsville residents asked county officials yesterdayto block a proposed 12-home development in their neighborhood, charging that it will drastically change the area's landscape and add to heavy traffic."

ORIENT, N.Y. -- Lined by Victorian barns, picket fences, scarecrows and potato fields, the 15-mile stretch of Route 25 between Greenport and Orient Point is still a century, or at least a state of mind, away from the jams of the Long Island Expressway.But this bucolic passage has become a battleground between a Connecticut ferry company and a bunch of crusty East End villagers.Residents are furious about a sudden increase in traffic spawned by a high-speed ferry that six times a day takes gamblers across Long Island Sound to the Foxwoods casino in Ledyard, Conn.

If the automobile is the unofficial symbol of American independence, then what could be more appropriate than spending the Fourth of July in the car with the family? AAA projected that 40.3 million Americans - more than ever before - would travel this holiday weekend. And the majority would go by car, said AAA spokeswoman Ragina Averella. Many of those who drove all day yesterday had no qualms about spending hours confined to their vehicles. "God, it is great to be an American," said Rodney Whetstone, a New Jersey resident who was making a pit stop at the Maryland House rest stop on Interstate 95 near Aberdeen yesterday.

Heavy traffic is predicted in downtown Baltimore and along Interstate 95 in the city this weekend because of the convergence of a series of events, including a national college lacrosse tournament at the Ravens stadium. The Maryland Transportation Authority is advising motorists traveling through Baltimore between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. today through Monday to use the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel or the Francis Scott Key Bridge as an alternative to the Fort McHenry Tunnel. The heaviest traffic is expected on Interstate 95 south of the city approaching the Russell Street and Interstate 395 exits as well as city streets leading to the Camden Yards stadium complex.

Motorists making their way downtown Monday through either a narrowed Jones Falls Expressway or crowded city streets may have felt a pang of envy as they watched walkers and cyclists easily outpacing them. Reports varied on Monday's morning commute — the first rush hour since transportation officials closed two lanes of the JFX for two months — but the consensus appeared to be: Whatever route you take, you're going to need more time. Among the observations: •A seven-mile trip down North Charles Street starting at Bellona Avenue took 90 minutes.

I keep an old photograph of a thriving North Avenue taped to my desk. The largest sign projecting over the sidewalk is that of the Parkway Theatre. But for more than 30 years now, the movie theater has been closed and hasn't been doing what it should be — entertaining Baltimoreans. The Parkway needs to flourish again, and the city, through its redevelopment arm, is offering it for sale. Opening it up and bringing it to a usable, safe standard will not be cheap, but it will be worth the investment.

There are a couple things that make my daily commute a little worse. The first is what I call "ramp riders," motorists who take an exit ramp not to exit, but to bypass slower traffic by continuing onto the on-ramp to merge into traffic ahead of where they were when they exited. This is especially prevalent on Maryland Route 32 at U.S. Route 1 in the afternoons in the northbound directions. It's gotten worse in the last couple years with the influx of workers to the Fort Meade area. This also occurs in the afternoon on Route 95 North at Calverton (Route 212)

I am not entirely unsympathetic to homeowners who live on South Rolling Road. I know, all too well, the frustrations of living on a major roadway. I live on Old Frederick Road, which also receives a lot of traffic — most of it well over the posted speed limit. I can't park at the curb in front of my own home; parking there is legal, but not wise. My last car was totaled on a beautiful Sunday afternoon during the spring by a young, distracted driver. Mine was not the first car to be hit while parked there.

On pages 4 and 6 of Wednesday's paper there were two stories about cars hitting kids on bicycles ("2 young bicyclists struck in separate Balto Co. incidents" and "Driver gets six month term in death of teen on bicycle," Sept. 29). Were they wearing helmets? Reporting on whether they were or were not wearing helmets might prompt more people to think about wearing one themselves when they ride. Most people I see riding their bikes up and down York Road south of Towson do not wear helmets.

Boy, 11, missing; failed to return from school An 11-year-old boy was reported missing after he did not return home after leaving Golden Ring Middle School on Friday, Baltimore County police said. Mezcal Donta Davis of the 6000 block of Nahant Road in Rosedale is black with a medium complexion, brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt and tan pants. He stands 4 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. Anyone with information about the boy is asked to call police at 410-887-5000.

Del. Glen Glass, a Republican representing southern and eastern Harford County District 34A in the Maryland House of Delegates, recently issued the following statement on the proposed move of the Abingdon Walmart to a site at Route 924 and Plumtree Road: Maryland State Del. Glen Glass (R - Harford, District 34A), announced that he continues to oppose the proposed Wal-Mart relocation at the Plumtree Road and Route 924 intersection. Del. Glass publicly applauded County Executive David Craig's assertion that Wal-Mart could expand at its current location.

On pages 4 and 6 of Wednesday's paper there were two stories about cars hitting kids on bicycles ("2 young bicyclists struck in separate Balto Co. incidents" and "Driver gets six month term in death of teen on bicycle," Sept. 29). Were they wearing helmets? Reporting on whether they were or were not wearing helmets might prompt more people to think about wearing one themselves when they ride. Most people I see riding their bikes up and down York Road south of Towson do not wear helmets.

Officials left all lanes of the Bay Bridge open for holiday travelers yesterday, and there were no reports of heavy traffic in either direction as the Labor Day weekend came to a close. Starting today, one lane on the eastbound bridge will be closed around the clock for up to 10 weeks while crews work on the concrete barriers that serve as its walls. Concerns about the barriers' safety emerged after a fatal Aug. 10 accident in which a tractor-trailer broke through and plunged into the bay. While officials say the bridge's deck and underpinnings are structurally sound, they say they need to reinforce the barriers with steel plates and extra bolts and add metal guard rails.

A multivehicle accident shut down U.S. 50 on the Eastern Shore in both directions last night, just as the long Labor Day weekend was winding to a close. The accident, which involved five vehicles, occurred about 9 p.m. in Talbot County, according to state police in Easton. Two helicopters were called to the scene to take four victims to hospitals, police said. Police could not initially say on which side of U.S. 50 the accident had occurred or how many people were injured. State highway workers set up detours.