Improvements To Route

While state planners look into the next millennium for improvements to Route 140, relief is at hand for one intersection along the congested artery.J. Michael Evans, Carroll County's director of public works, said the extension of Ralph Street from Route 140 to Greenwood Avenue could be ready by Christmas."It's possible, depending on the weather," Evans said. The project, which was expected to be done in the spring, has moved ahead of schedule.A small road at 0.2 miles, the Ralph Street extension will provide direct access to county government and school offices, the courthouses and jail.

The Carroll commissioners deleted yesterday the long-proposed Westminster bypass from the county's master plan for growth, effectively ending any hope that the road, an idea dating to the 1960s, will ever be built. The commissioners had been setting aside land for a bypass around the city for several decades. Saying the road would promote sprawl, Gov. Parris N. Glendening scrapped funding for the project, with a Manchester bypass, five years ago. At the request of several landowners, the county planning commission then recommended deleting much of the property set aside for the bypass from the county's plan for future growth.

With the $76 million Hampstead bypass set for construction early next year, Carroll County officials are turning their state road building priorities south to the most populous area. The commissioners have made the widening of Route 32 from Route 26 to Macbeth Way in Eldersburg the county's main construction project. The county has committed $2.5 million to the $5 million construction cost. The commissioners also will urge the state to complete engineering and acquire any remaining land needed for upgrades along Route 26, the main artery through Eldersburg.

Route 22 in the Churchville and Campus Hills area didn't become the traffic mess it is overnight, and it won't be fixed overnight. Technically speaking, the territory is outside Harford County's development area, though the roadway that passes through it, Route 22, does link Bel Air to Aberdeen and Aberdeen Proving Ground. Because it is in an area not slated for development, perhaps the pressure to improve the roadway has been relatively limited. But improvements are needed.

More than $25 million in state highway projects in Harford County have been put on hold due to the state's financial distress.State Highway Administration district engineers delivered the news Thursday to Harford's seven General Assembly members at the delegation's weekly meeting in Annapolis.SHA engineers said the construction freeze affects Harford as well as highway projects across the state and was imposed in December tocurb department spending.The county's five delegates and two state senators are concerned that delays in projects planned for this year might postpone future projects, including improvements to PerrymanRoad (Route 159)

Chamber committee to offer update on Route 140 project The Transportation Committee of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce will meet to offer an update on improvements to Route 140 from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday at Westminster Church of Christ auditorium, Route 97 north at Lamb Drive (one mile north of Airport Drive). The purpose of the meeting is to: Update local business representatives and the public on the findings of the Maryland State Highway Administration and Federal Highway Administration Project Planning Study for improvements to the Route 140 corridor.

The State Highway Administration plans to make safety and traffic improvements to several Route 140 intersections in Carroll County during the new year.Topping the list of improvements are traffic signals at the intersections of Route 140 and Cranberry Road and Route 140 and Sandymount Road, an overhead warning device for a signal change at Route 140 and Route 97 east and a right-turn lane on westbound Route 140 at Royer Road/Meadow Branch Road.The signal at Cranberry Road is needed to accommodate traffic to the Cranberry Square Shopping Center.

Company seeks permit to add Route 216 access Howard Research and Development Corp. has applied for a state access permit to allow a new access point to Route 216 between the Interstate 95 interchange ramps and All Saints Road. The proposed improvements include construction of a ramp and bridge over eastbound Route 216, ramps along westbound Route 216, improvements to the Route 216-All Saints Road intersection and an extension of North Laurel Road to connect to the new access road south of Stephens Road.

The long-awaited Hampstead bypass - a $35 million road to ease traffic congestion on Route 30 - tops the list of eight highway projects the Carroll commissioners will discuss with state transportation officials tomorrow. County officials plan to urge the Maryland Department of Transportation to start building the Hampstead bypass, which has been planned since 1960. The bypass would divert traffic, much of it trucks and tractor-trailers, from Hampstead's Main Street, Route 30. "We know the state is trying to wrap up engineering and land acquisition," said Jeanne Joiner, county director of planning.

Sykesville OKs improvements programThe Sykesville Planning and Zoning Commission has voted unanimously to accept a capital improvements program for fiscal 1994.Projects include $78,000 for road improvements; a $4,000 storage shed for four town vehicles now parked outdoors; and about $45,000 for new equipment. Included in the planned equipment purchases is $14,900 for another police car.Planners said they are pushing the state to begin improvements to Route 32, which runs along Sykesville's border.