Road Project

Members of Maryland's congressional delegation announced Monday that they had secured $5.6 million to help pay for road projects related to expanded employment at Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground under the Pentagon's base realignment program. Reps. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes and Frank Kratovil, along with Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, made the announcement near Route 175 and Rockenbach Road at Fort Meade - one of the intersections scheduled to be improved to accommodate increased traffic.

Despite a shortfall in transportation revenue, Maryland is about to launch a $42.6 million intersection improvement project near the Aberdeen Proving Ground - the first project to improve access to the base in preparation for an influx of thousands of workers whose jobs are moving to Harford County under the Pentagon's Base Relocation and Closure program. Gov. Martin O'Malley and other high-ranking officials will gather in Aberdeen on Friday to announce that the State Highway Administration will break ground next fall on a series of upgrades at U.S. 40, Route 715 and other roads near the base.

While saying he recognized the state's fiscal problems, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. pushed for several critical highway projects and upgrades to mass transit during a meeting with Maryland transportation officials Monday. Road and highway maintenance "remains essential both to the quality of life in our communities and to helping us to rebound and promote economic growth," Smith said. While making annual visits to each jurisdiction, transportation officials are delivering the same message: Only projects already under construction will be funded, while all others are deferred.

Downtown drivers can expect about a year of traffic misery as city transportation officials launch an ambitious rebuilding project that will at times claim half the capacity of Lombard Street - Baltimore's principal westbound artery across the central business district. Beginning as early as May, the city will close some lanes of Lombard Street for the $2.6 million project, potentially the most disruptive downtown road work in recent years. Lombard, a block north of harbor-front Pratt Street, is one of Baltimore's busiest streets.

Harford County Executive David R. Craig announced nearly $13 million in cuts to the current budget yesterday but stressed there will be no employee layoffs and insisted that work will continue on school and road construction projects. The county will also meet the challenges to its infrastructure, associated with BRAC, a military expansion that will bring 10,000 more jobs to Aberdeen Proving Ground, and it will move forward with other projects already undertaken, he said.. Despite the downturn in the housing industry that has led to reduced revenues from the transfer and recordation taxes, Craig assured residents that they would not see any decrease in services.

Bill Newton was a motorcycle guy looking to change the general public's impression of people like him. So, he and some of his fellow leather-clad, bearded bikers signed up to pick up trash on the side of a piece of Reisterstown Road in the center of their town. These days, the Freedom Few Motorcycle Club of Maryland Inc. is a full-fledged charity that has done countless good deeds and participated in and even launched several programs to help their neighbors and others. And, nearly two decades later, they are still picking up litter.

Liberty Road, U.S. 40 set for repairs The State Highway Administration said yesterday that it was beginning work on separate highway improvement projects on Liberty Road in Randallstown and on Pulaski Highway at Middle River Road near Middle River. The Liberty Road (Route 26) work, from Anne Hathaway Drive to Offutt Road, will include resurfacing the pavement; replacing sections of sidewalks and curbs; and upgrading traffic signals. The Pulaski Highway (U.S. 40) work will include widening and adding lanes to the intersection, resurfacing the pavement and installing new barriers.

Yesterday's unveiling of the long-awaited Gwynns Falls Trail head near Leakin Park in Southwest Baltimore completes the 15-mile greenway trail and gives hikers and bikers a new gateway to downtown. Meandering past mallard ducks, an old waterwheel and pristine woodlands, on a journey billed to be 10 degrees cooler than elsewhere in the city because of the Gwynns Falls and the tree canopy, the trail connects more than 30 neighborhoods and 2,000 acres of parkland. "You'll be able to go from here to Baltimore and really enjoy the beauty of the park," Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin told a group of runners, hikers and bikers gathered at the Park & Ride at the end of Interstate 70 to celebrate.

The idea of mass transit hasn't exactly been popular in Carroll County, where leaders traditionally have viewed big, costly public transportation systems as big-city concerns. But that might be changing. Carroll leaders are backing future regional transit projects in exchange for help with a more pressing highway dilemma just across the border in Howard County. Carroll officials want to double the width of Route 32 running north from Interstate 70 in Howard to Sykesville to boost a developing business park on the grounds of the former Springfield Hospital Center near the county line.