Railroad Crossing

THE PROBLEM -- A CSX railroad crossing at Todds Lane in Baltimore County's Rosedale neighborhood does not have gates, and people who work in nearby offices are concerned about recent accidents involving motorists crossing the tracks. THE BACK STORY -- Neill Christopher, vice president of operations of Arcadia Windows & Doors, reports safety problems with the railroad crossing near several businesses on Todds Lane, off Pulaski Highway, and he would like a gate there to help prevent cars from being hit by trains.

The problem: A railroad crossing near M&T Bank Stadium has been closed to traffic. The back story: Occasionally, Watchdog encounters a problem resulting from a solution proposed as an answer to an entirely different problem. Take, for example, this week's quandary. Richard Jordan works in a machine shop near the intersection of Ridgely Street and West Ostend Street, near the parking lots for M&T Bank Stadium and the elevated portion of Russell Street. For about a month and a half, Jordan, who commutes from Catonsville, said he has had to go at least 10 minutes out of his way because the railroad crossing on Ridgely Street between West Ostend and Alluvion streets has been closed.

Federal and Howard County traffic officials met in Elkridge yesterday to test the regraded railroad crossing where a MARC passenger train crashed into a tractor-trailer that became stuck last fall.Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, CSX Corp. and the Howard County traffic department pulled another, similarly loaded tractor-trailer across the railroad tracks at Hanover Road near Elkridge.The road had been repaved and elevated to make it approximately the same height as the tracks.

CSX Railroad is to begin maintenance work on the crossing at Montevideo Road in Jessup on or about Friday, weather permitting. The project is expected to be completed by July 9. While the road is closed, traffic will be detoured both ways via U.S. 1 to Route 175 in Howard County and Wigley Avenue in Anne Arundel County. CSX will post signs before any road closing. Should the project be delayed, signs will be posted to alert motorists. Information: Valerie Robinson, 410-313-3440. Military Decorated -- Air Force Staff Sgt. Rebecca L. Currier, a 1998 graduate of St. Vincent Pallotti High School in Laurel, has been decorated with the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the fifth highest peacetime defense award authorized by the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Light-rail work closes crossing at Ferndale RoadThe Ferndale Road railroad crossing between Broadview and Baltimore & Annapolis boulevards will be closed for about four weeks because of light-rail construction.The road was closed yesterday so workers could begin laying track for the southern extension of the state's Central Light Rail line, the Mass Transit Administration announced.Workers also will finish work on the planned Ferndale light-rail station, which will open next spring adjacent to the railroad crossing.

100 Years Ago* Sen. J. Wirt Randall, of Anne Arundel County, has selected his seat in the coming Maryland Senate. He chose the second seat in the second row, to the right of the presiding officer and near the door. -- The Sun, Nov. 16, 1895.* The county commissioners have tightened the requirements in providing pauper burial at taxpayers' expense. It costs the county $8 per infant and $9 per adult, including the coffin and digging the grave. -- The Sun, Nov. 26, 1895.* The board of county commissioners authorized bids and plans for an iron bridge over Furnace Branch near Glen Burnie, and permission for a railroad crossing over the county road at Fairfield.

CSX Transportation Inc. will repair the warning signals at the Route 30 railroad crossing near the south end of Hampstead by Nov. 29, more than two weeks after a traffic accident damaged a signal pole and knocked the crossing's red flashing lights out of service.In the meantime, all CSX crews have been operating under a "stop and flag" order, meaning that all trains stop before crossing Route 30 and deploy a flagman to halt traffic, said Kathy Burns, a CSX spokeswoman.The warning devices were damaged Nov. 12. Kenneth F. Russell, chief of the Hampstead Police Department, said town officers have since tried to be in the area of the crossing to assist with traffic safety whenever trains pass through.

With help from state Sen. Larry E. Haines, developer Martin K. P. Hill has persuaded the state Department of Transportation to remove a long-standing obstacle to construction of a highway railroad crossing that is vital for completion of his North Carroll Farms IV project in Hampstead.Last month's action removes the condition that a railroad crossing at Greenmount Church Road be closed before Hill may build another crossing at Farm Woods Lane to create the main access to his planned 220-unit development.

Motorists' wheels may often move too fast, but the wheels of government go considerably slower, Elkridge residents learned last night. A study to determine whether Hanover Road - Elkridge's back door to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Arundel Mills mall in Anne Arundel County - should be slammed shut likely will not begin for nearly a year, according to William F. Malone Jr., chief of Howard County's traffic division. A contract to replace a culvert bridge on Loudon Avenue, near the railroad crossing where the county wants to close the road, has been delayed for rebidding.

CSX Transportation Inc. will repair the warning signals at the Route 30 railroad crossing near the south end of Hampstead by Nov. 29, more than two weeks after a traffic accident damaged a signal pole and knocked the crossing's red flashing lights out of service.In the meantime, all CSX crews have been operating under a "stop and flag" order, meaning that all trains stop before crossing Route 30 and deploy a flagman to halt traffic, said Kathy Burns, a CSX spokeswoman.The warning devices were damaged Nov. 12. Kenneth F. Russell, chief of the Hampstead Police Department, said town officers have since tried to be in the area of the crossing to assist with traffic safety whenever trains are passing through.

THE PROBLEM -- A CSX railroad crossing at Todds Lane in Baltimore County's Rosedale neighborhood does not have gates, and people who work in nearby offices are concerned about recent accidents involving motorists crossing the tracks. THE BACK STORY -- Neill Christopher, vice president of operations of Arcadia Windows & Doors, reports safety problems with the railroad crossing near several businesses on Todds Lane, off Pulaski Highway, and he would like a gate there to help prevent cars from being hit by trains.

More than 150 Elkridge residents packed a school meeting room last night, mainly to oppose the closing of Hanover Road at a railroad crossing west of the border of Howard and Anne Arundel counties - but not everyone agreed. The closing was intended to make the 18th-century community's twisting, bumpy main street safer, and several residents maintained that the goal must be reached, whatever the means. "I feel a need for it to be safer, and if closing it will make it safer, then we should do that," said Christine O'Connor, a Hanover Road resident and mother of three young children.

CSX to close road at crossing through Friday for repairs The CSX Railroad is planning to close Newport/Flag Marsh Road at the railroad crossing for repairs starting today. Repairs are scheduled to be completed by the end of Friday. Detours will be marked throughout the area. Information: 410-386-2035. 98 Rock Blood Drive starts today at TownMall TownMall of Westminster will hold the 19th annual 98 Rock Blood Drive with the American Red Cross this week. Radio station WIYY-FM will give all donors a T-shirt and provide games and giveaways for shoppers.

Motorists' wheels may often move too fast, but the wheels of government go considerably slower, Elkridge residents learned last night. A study to determine whether Hanover Road - Elkridge's back door to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Arundel Mills mall in Anne Arundel County - should be slammed shut likely will not begin for nearly a year, according to William F. Malone Jr., chief of Howard County's traffic division. A contract to replace a culvert bridge on Loudon Avenue, near the railroad crossing where the county wants to close the road, has been delayed for rebidding.

A decision on whether to permanently close Hanover Road, connecting Elkridge to Anne Arundel County across what Howard County officials deem a dangerous railroad crossing, was delayed yesterday after a County Council discussion -- but the road may be closed this fall as a test. The issue has split the community, making what earlier seemed a consensus decision controversial. The issue pits those worried about potential traffic from expanding Baltimore-Washington International Airport and an industrial park being built just east of the railroad tracks, against those who want the link kept intact.

A leafy relic of the rumble seat era and before, Hanover Road in Elkridge meanders southeast from U.S. 1 through residential neighborhoods, crossing railroad tracks and then Deep Run stream, where it moves into Anne Arundel County toward fast-growing Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Howard County officials and some community residents worried about safety want to close the road at the railroad crossing, a move others complain would cut off a convenient back door for Elkridge residents headed to Route 100, Arundel Mills mall or simply to Scott Haney's country store, and for Arundel residents coming west.

State transportation authorities have told Hampstead officials that improvements to the two railroad crossings on Route 30 will be completed by the spring or summer of 1998.Since money already has been allocated for projects elsewhere, state Secretary of Transportation David L. Winstead wrote Hampstead Mayor Christopher M. Nevin last week to advise that construction on the new crossings by CSX railroad crews could not begin sooner than the fall of 1997.Mr. Nevin had requested last month that state officials help speed the project, originally scheduled to start in fiscal year 1998-1999.

IF THE TOWN of Hampstead wants to block construction of North Carroll Farms Section 4 subdivision, it will have to do so without riding the rails.And that wouldn't be a bad idea for the town, where the politics of growth have resulted in conflicting positions with each change in political leadership. In its current legal challenge to the 220-unit development, Hampstead and several citizens claim there were problems in the process followed by the former town planning commission that approved the expanded development.

At 10:30 on a Sunday night in May, it's hard to spot 42-year-old quadriplegic Alan Downer as he steers his battery-powered wheelchair 3 1/2 miles home from church along a desolate curve of Hollins Ferry Road in Southwest Baltimore. Downer has made this trip almost two dozen times but it still unnerves him: He must cross five sets of railroad tracks, face dogs that chase him, go through dangerous neighborhoods. He first drummed up the courage to wheel himself to his West Baltimore home four years ago. He figured it was better than sitting helplessly and having his mother worry.