Improvements To Route

FINANCING ROAD IMPROVEMENTS, particularly those designed to attract large industrial and commercial enterprises, used to be a relatively simple task. Draw up the engineering plans, hold a public hearing and the County Council would add the project to the capital improvements budget.But with its 2-year-old tax cap, Anne Arundel County no longer has an easy route to finance major road projects with general obligation bonds.Undeveloped properties along Route 32 between the Howard County line and the National Security Agency near Fort Meade should be among the most attractive commercial and industrial properties in the county.

Carroll leaders met with the state transportation secretary yesterday to recommend improvements to Route 32 between Eldersburg and the Howard County line, a stretch of road they say has become congested and unsafe. They suggested reducing the number of access points to the road, reshaping some intersections, adding a traffic signal at the intersection with Macbeth Way and studying the road's accident history to diagnose trouble spots. Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said he was concerned about safety hazards on Route 32. "Certainly, it's as dramatic an example as any of the need for safety improvements we have around the state," he said.

The State Highway Administration will conduct a public meeting to discuss proposed improvements to Route 174 (Quarterfield Road) at Interstate 97 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at Corkran Middle School, 7600 Quarterfield Road, Glen Burnie. The public is invited to express opinions on the proposal. The improvements involve replacing the Route 174 bridge over I-97 with a six-lane structure, widening Route 174 to two lanes in each direction and relocating and widening I-97 southbound ramps.

The State Highway Administration will conduct a public meeting to discuss proposed improvements to Route 174 (Quarterfield Road) at Interstate 97 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at Corkran Middle School, 7600 Quarterfield Road, Glen Burnie. The public is invited to express opinions on the proposal. The improvements involve replacing the Route 174 bridge over I-97 with a six-lane structure, widening Route 174 to two lanes in each direction and relocating and widening I-97 southbound ramps.

Construction to begin at Route 175 junctionsContractors will begin work Monday on improvements to Route 175's intersections with Route 108 and with Snowden River Parkway.The $2.6 million project will add left-turn lanes for motorists turning from Route 175 onto Route 108 and vice versa, and for motorists turning from Route 175 onto Snowden River Parkway.Improvements planned by contractors Ratrie, Robbins & Schweizer of Baltimore also will include paving an additional eastbound and a westbound lane on what is now the median strip of Route 175 between Interstate 95 and Snowden River Parkway.

Carroll County officials should focus on improving Route 140 through Westminster because a bypass probably won't be built in the next 20 years, the state highway administrator says.State money would be better spent upgrading Route 140 so that traffic flows more smoothly during rush hours, Hal Kassoff said Monday.The state will not have the $200 million needed to build the bypass in the next 10 to 20 years, he said.Upgrading the road is a short-term solution to increased traffic on Route 140, Mr. Kassoff said, and a bypass is a long-term solution but won't be realistic for many years.

Carroll officials will ask the state today to expand a traffic study of Route 140 to include Route 97 north - to reduce congestion and improve safety along the heavily traveled route outside Westminster. The county will make its request as the state begins designing improvements to Route 140, west of the county seat. Plans for road widening and additional turn lanes are only for Route 140. As those improvements proceed, traffic will become heavier on Route 97, particularly in heavily developed areas north to Pleasant Valley Road.

The State Highway Administration is preparing plans for improvements to Route 32 at Sykesville and hopes to begin work this summer.Douglas Rose, SHA district engineer, said the project "is not a done deal, but I am optimistic about getting funding. We are fully planning to do the work this year."Mr. Rose is awaiting final budget approval, which probably will not come before July 1, the beginning of fiscal 1995."We have had to re-evaluate the budget since damages to highways last winter play a tremendous role in the roads program," Mr. Rose said.

State Highway Administration officials have said, in so many words, that if there is to be a Westminster Bypass, it will be built decades from now.Their more immediate concern is developing a feasible and affordable plan to improve traffic flow on the portion of Route 140 that passes through the Carroll County seat. The SHA's subtle messages may reduce the contentious fighting over the bypass, but it won't resolve it.Bypass opponents take little comfort in the SHA's approach. Carroll Life, the most vocal and visible group opposing the bypass, would like to see Route 140 transformed into a limited access highway that would make construction of the bypass (and the taking of some members' property)

State officials say widening the 6 1/2 -mile stretch of Route 32 from Interstate 70 to Route 26 to four lanes is possible but, at a projected cost of $80 million, improbable.Carroll County envisions a widened Route 32 as its access to interstates, as a boon to economic development in South Carroll and as the cheapest way to ease traffic congestion in its fastest-growing area."From my perspective, this project is a critical component to the fiscal health of Carroll County," said Steven D. Powell, county budget director.

Carroll officials will ask the state today to expand a traffic study of Route 140 to include Route 97 north - to reduce congestion and improve safety along the heavily traveled route outside Westminster. The county will make its request as the state begins designing improvements to Route 140, west of the county seat. Plans for road widening and additional turn lanes are only for Route 140. As those improvements proceed, traffic will become heavier on Route 97, particularly in heavily developed areas north to Pleasant Valley Road.

A traffic study of South Carroll's roadways calls for improvements to major intersections, construction of service roads parallel to Route 26 and a widening of Route 32 to four lanes into Howard County.James W. Holls, manager of the traffic division for the Towson-based consultants Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani, gave the County Commissioners a preview yesterday of the $75,000 study, which determined that without improvements, the county's most populous area will soon face several failed intersections and an increase in accidents.

FINANCING ROAD IMPROVEMENTS, particularly those designed to attract large industrial and commercial enterprises, used to be a relatively simple task. Draw up the engineering plans, hold a public hearing and the County Council would add the project to the capital improvements budget.But with its 2-year-old tax cap, Anne Arundel County no longer has an easy route to finance major road projects with general obligation bonds.Undeveloped properties along Route 32 between the Howard County line and the National Security Agency near Fort Meade should be among the most attractive commercial and industrial properties in the county.

County Executive John G. Gary hopes a $5 million "carrot" will encourage the state to pay for improvements to Route 32 where it passes through the National Security Agency complex and crosses the Baltimore Washington Parkway.Commuters using the limited-access state highway between Interstate 97 and Columbia hit a bottleneck in the approximately 1.5-mile stretch at the NSA and Fort Meade, where the road narrows and several traffic lights interrupt the high-speed flow of traffic.Reconstructing the roadway, providing new interchanges at Route 198 and NSA, and building additional service roads would cost $57 million, said Fran Counihan, a spokeswoman with the State Highway Administration.

County Executive John G. Gary hopes a $5 million "carrot" will encourage the state to pay for improvements to Route 32 where it passes through the National Security Agency complex and crosses the Baltimore Washington Parkway.Commuters using the limited-access state highway between Interstate 97 and Columbia hit a bottleneck in the approximately 1.5-mile stretch at the NSA and Fort Meade, where the road narrows and several traffic lights interrupt the high-speed flow of traffic.Reconstructing the roadway, providing new interchanges at Route 198 and NSA, and building additional service roads would cost $57 million, said Fran Counihan, a spokeswoman with the State Highway Administration.

State officials say widening the 6 1/2 -mile stretch of Route 32 from Interstate 70 to Route 26 to four lanes is possible but, at a projected cost of $80 million, improbable.Carroll County envisions a widened Route 32 as its access to interstates, as a boon to economic development in South Carroll and as the cheapest way to ease traffic congestion in its fastest-growing area."From my perspective, this project is a critical component to the fiscal health of Carroll County," said Steven D. Powell, county budget director.

County Executive John G. Gary hopes a $5 million "carrot" will encourage the state to pay for improvements to Route 32 where it passes through the National Security Agency complex and crosses the Baltimore Washington Parkway.Commuters using the limited-access state highway between Interstate 97 and Columbia hit a bottleneck in the approximately 1.5-mile stretch at the NSA and Fort Meade, where the road narrows and several traffic lights interrupt the high-speed flow of traffic.Reconstructing the roadway, providing new interchanges at Route 198 and NSA, and building additional service roads would cost $57 million, said Fran Counihan, a spokeswoman with the State Highway Administration.

State officials say widening the 6 1/2 -mile stretch of Route 32 from Interstate 70 to Route 26 to four lanes is possible but, at a projected cost of $80 million, improbable.Carroll County envisions a widened Route 32 as its access to interstates, as a boon to economic development in South Carroll and as the cheapest way to ease traffic congestion in its fastest-growing area."From my perspective, this project is a critical component to the fiscal health of Carroll County," said Steven D. Powell, county budget director.

State officials say widening the 6 1/2 -mile stretch of Route 32 from Interstate 70 to Route 26 to four lanes is possible but, at a projected cost of $80 million, improbable.Carroll County envisions a widened Route 32 as its access to interstates, as a boon to economic development in South Carroll and as the cheapest way to ease traffic congestion in its fastest-growing area."From my perspective, this project is a critical component to the fiscal health of Carroll County," said Steven D. Powell, county budget director.

There's only one obstacle to building a four-lane highway along Route 32 from Interstate 70 north to Route 26 -- money.Carroll officials say a 7.5-mile, four-lane highway with at-grade, signaled intersections and no interchanges is vital, not only for handling increased traffic, but for the county's economic development hopes.The state has improved a 2.4-mile stretch of Route 32 in Howard County from Clarksville south toward Interstate 95; that section opened in March at a cost of $55 million.