Road Project

State transportation officials said yesterday that a project to widen Mountain Road, having reached a fiscal dead end last year, may again be considered for funding.But the money to improve Route 3 in Crofton and relieve congestion is not likely to materialize any time soon.The transportation officials, who included state Secretary of Transportation O. James Lighthizer and State Highway Administrator Hal Kassoff, made the remarks at an annual briefing to Anne Arundel officials.District 31's State House delegation and Councilman Carl G. "Dutch" Holland have been pressing the state to widen Mountain Road.

A half-empty former shopping mall in Eldersburg will be remade as a Walmart-anchored plaza under plans announced Monday by owner Black Oak Associates. In a move long awaited by many in the community, the Owings Mills-based developer will spend $50 million to renovate Carrolltown Center into Eldersburg Commons, with new restaurants and home, fashion and beauty retailers. For a decade, Carrolltown Center has been a community sore spot. The interior of the small community mall was closed in 2005, and the property languished with a diminishing roster of tenants and an abandoned movie theater.

The county commissioners approved a plan yesterday that will detour traffic during the initial reconstruction phase of Obrecht Road in South Carroll.Plans call for realigning what is a winding road with poor sight distance from Route 97 to White Rock Road. The second phase will take Obrecht to Route 32 in or near the town of Sykesville.J. Michael Evans, county director of public works, has recommended closing the one-mile segment to traffic from Route 97 east to White Rock for the duration of the work, which is expected to take most of the construction season next year.

Howard County's new U.S. 1 meets the old near the Route 175 intersection, where the Jessup Plaza features a deli that offers breakfast all day, along with money orders, a shiatsu massage parlor and Jimmy G's Check Cashing. Just north of that, though, builders are raising Howard Square, a new project with townhouses, apartments and stores. Howard Square is part of the U.S. 1 envisioned by county planners, who for years have been charting a future for the old highway — maintaining its role as a job center while improving the appearance to make it inviting to development different from the hodgepodge of strip malls and fast-food restaurants so prevalent along the route.

Foes of a controversial road project and the Glen Burni Improvement Association agreed Tuesday to ask the county to devise a better solution to traffic problems on Thelma Avenue and Old Stage Road than the proposed $3.1 million thoroughfare."

A $297,000 road project scheduled for fiscal 2000 was the focus last night of a County Council hearing on the noneducation portion of County Executive Charles I. Ecker's $93 million capital budget proposal.About 100 eastern Howard County residents turned out to debate a proposal to connect Hale Haven Drive with Doncaster Drive near Route 103. Both roads are cul-de-sacs now.Those who live on Worthington Way said the county promised them access to Route 103 more than 20 years ago and that they tTC cannot wait until 2000 for the road to be connected.

The $1.8 million project to reduce congestion on Pasadena roads by widening Fort Smallwood Road has disrupted a new development of homes, and some residents say they would not have moved there had they known about the project. Homeowners in the 29-home neighborhood, Mariners Cove, are upset because, they say, they were not told when they bought their houses in the 5-year-old development about the road project, which has torn down their tree barrier. The county said the residents had opportunities to be informed of the project, and the company that built some of the homes said the road project was on the area's site plan.

State officials are hopeful that BY Christmas they can take the wrappings off a long-anticipated $18.2 million road project near Annapolis. Nearly three years in the making, construction to widen and realign lanes and create new ramps at the interchange of U.S. 50, Route 450 and Solomons Island Road - one of the county's most congested junctions - is "90 percent" complete, said David Buck, spokesman for the State Highway Administration. All that crews are waiting on is clear weather, so that they can open the new ramps and install permanent paving markers, Buck said.

County Council chairman Paul R. Farragut fought unsuccessfully Monday to stop what he called a $1.1 million financial boondoggle -- the connection of North Chatham Road to U.S. 40.Had Farragut prevailed, it would have been the first time the council had stopped a capitalproject after appropriating money for it.The fact that $730,000 had been authorized previously and nearly $100,000 already spent was cited by the four other council members asa compelling reason...

Planners rerouted and widened a proposed parkway in Annapolis to accommodate a commercial development, an Anne Arundel Council member said yesterday as she fought to kill the road project."

For the fifth year in a row, Del. Eric M. Bromwell has introduced a bill to authorize slot machines at BWI Marshall Airport It's Bromwell's attempt to infuse the state treasury — specifically the Transportation Trust Fund — with gambling money, and the Baltimore County Democrat said he has no intention of giving up. "I consider this to be the ultimate alternative to a gas tax," he said. "This is exactly how we pay for roads. " The bill would authorize up to 2,500 slot machines in the airport's main terminal beyond the security screening area.

The Harford County Department of Public Works, has announced that Cedar Lane from the Cedar Lane Park entrance to Cedarday Drive south of Bel Air has been reopened to traffic. The road was closed in early December for construction to be completed. For further information regarding this road project, contact the Department of Public Works, Division of Construction Inspections at 410-638-3217, Ext. 2434.

One road project in Harford County has wrapped up and the road is reopened, while another will be closed for about a month beginning in two weeks. Thomas Run Road from Route 22 to Medical Hall Road has been re-opened to traffic. The road had been closed for since late May to allow for road construction work to be completed, according to the Harford County Department of Public Works. For further information regarding this road project, contact Michael Davies, Chief, Bureau of Construction Inspections with the Department of Public Works, 410-638-3217, ext. 2434, Monday through Friday during normal business hours.

Patterson Mill Road from Wheel Road to Gillingham Drive in the Bel Air area is closed temporarily through the end of May, according to the Harford County Department of Public Works. The closure for road construction began last Wednesday and was expected to last about 15 days. Motorists who normally travel this route should make other arrangements until the road is reopened. For more information about this road project, contact the Department of Public Works at 410-638-3217, ext. 2434, Monday through Friday during normal business hours.

Increases to the gas tax, vehicle registration fees and the titling tax were among the options discussed to raise transportation revenues during a lengthy Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hearing Wednesday. The panel is examining ways to increase funding by $800 million a year for road projects, an issue that's likely to be one of several budget-related priorities in the 2012 General Assembly session. The legislature will also try to take another bite out of Maryland's persistent $1 billion structural deficit.

Returning from a monthlong break, the Howard County Council will begin discussing new legislation on Tuesday, including a bid to restrict the county's authority to seize private property through eminent domain. A bill introduced by Greg Fox, a Fulton Republican, would change the county charter to limit the county's ability to take land for nonpublic uses. It is in response to a continuing battle over where to put an access road for a county-owned property that was slated to be a mixed-use development before the developer backed out in July.

The Eastern narrow-mouthed toad has not been spotted officially in St. Mary's County for years, which doesn't necessarily mean it's not there. That's how it is with this toad, a critter about the size of a half-dollar that makes a career out of being unseen.Shy as it is, the amphibian lately is casting a long shadow over California, Md., where the county Public Works Department plans to rebuild a two-lane road next to St. Mary's State Park.But the widening of Indian Bridge Road poses a threat to the toad, protected by the state since 1972 as an endangeredspecies in Maryland.

Dealing a blow to Pasadena residents worried about the dangers of increasing traffic, County Executive Janet S. Owens said yesterday that the county will move ahead with plans to complete East-West Boulevard, extending the road from Jumpers Hole Road to Ritchie Highway.While the news was welcomed by Severna Park residents who hailed the project as an end to their area's traffic congestion on Benfield Boulevard, it was a defeat for Pasadena residents whose neighborhoods would become the end destination of that traffic.

With the winter construction hiatus ended and road projects in full swing, Baltimore drivers are seeing orange — as safety cones and barrels mark many downtown roadwork sites. And thanks to a proliferation of lane closings, drivers have plenty of time to count them. The current spate of traffic tie-ups, which are expected to continue a couple more months, are the result of a combination of utility projects and the city's continuing effort to prepare streets for a Grand Prix auto race in September.

The state of Maryland and the Defense Department have reached agreement on critical traffic improvements in and around Fort Meade in preparation for an influx of new workers expected to arrive as a result of the base relocation and closing process. The State Highway Administration and the Fort Meade command made a deal under which the state will provide $10 million for improvements to a gate on the post that is considered a potential bottleneck when the work force at the Defense Information Systems Agency, located on fort grounds, expands under the base realignment process.