Road Project

With the design for a new intersection along Route 32 and access roads nearly complete, the town of Sykesville has yet to find all the money it needs for the $8 million project. Officials, both in the town and Carroll County, would like businesses that stand to benefit from the roadwork to contribute to it. "We are trying to do what is right and fair," said Mayor Jonathan S. Herman. "The state does not want to pay for other people's responsibilities. We are trying to come up with justifiable expenses for all the players.

The Westminster Common Council last night approved a $730,000 bid to repair city streets worn down by two unusually harsh winters. Hampstead-based C.J. Miller was awarded the city's annual roadway paving contract, said Planning and Public Works Director Thomas B. Beyard. He said the repairs are expected to be completed by mid-November. Beyard said that 19 streets are targeted, including Airport Drive, Tahoma Farm Road, Distillery Lane, Locust Street, Bond Street and Long Valley Road. Staffers rated the city's streets to decide which ones most needed to be repaired.

Neighbors of Parole Plaza are thrilled that it is being redeveloped after years of deterioration, but with the start of demolition only 10 days away, they say they are also worried that the planned mix of stores and high-rise condominiums will push nearby roads from clogged to downright impassable. Greenberg Commercial Corp. of Owings Mills, the developer of the $400 million project, has said it will go beyond county requirements to make traffic flow as smoothly as possible. The state is also building a ramp from U.S. 50 to Solomons Island Road (Route 2)

Neighbors of Parole Plaza are thrilled that it is being redeveloped after years of deterioration, but with the start of demolition only 10 days away, they say they are also worried that the planned mix of stores and high-rise condominiums will push nearby roads from clogged to downright impassable. Greenberg Commercial Corp. of Owings Mills, the developer of the $400 million project, has said it will go beyond county requirements to make traffic flow as smoothly as possible. The state is also building a ramp from U.S. 50 to Solomons Island Road (Route 2)

On a typical day, Arnold Greenspun watches over the bustle of elderly patrons and young mothers who stream into his Arnie's Bagel Cafe. The line, he says, can sometimes stretch out the door. But on a recent Wednesday the lunchtime staff nearly outnumbered the patrons, and orange cones, bulldozers and a maze of fresh concrete have taken up the space outside his storefront formerly occupied by bicycles, strollers and tables. The State Highway Administration is in the midst of a $6.2 million effort to improve York Road south of Towson.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. promoted yesterday his successful effort to increase car registration fees in announcing a $9.6 million project to make Harford Road in Parkville safer for pedestrians and friendlier for businesses. Saying the project is the first of many around the state that will be paid for with the new revenues, Ehrlich couched the contentious vote on the fee increase in stark terms: He surrounded himself with dozens of children who attend St. Ursula's, a Catholic school 20 yards from a stretch of Harford Road where officials say speeding is a significant problem.

A truck rolls onto the median of Rowe Boulevard in Annapolis, flattening tiny purple crocuses, tulip leaves and weeds. Machinery at the rear of the truck plunges four blades into the soil and emerges with a 1 1/2 -story-tall tree before driving away. One by one, 57 trees are leaving town, being taken a few miles away to a median on Route 450 just outside the city. There, they are being replanted. The $24,900 tree relocation, which began last week and is expected to be finished Tuesday, is the first phase of $33 million in bridge repairs expected to be completed in summer 2006.

The Maryland Department of the Environment will accept written testimony until Feb. 25 about a request for a permit by the owners of Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center in Ellicott City to build a road that crosses the Little Patuxent River. Mangione Family Enterprises hopes to construct a street from Marriottsville Road to continue approved residential and commercial development at the 800-acre site, said Lou Mangione after a MDE public hearing on the permit last week. More than 50 neighbors attended the hearing.

Carroll County Department of Public Works has announced road construction projects for this week. For information on the projects below, contact Carroll County Bureau of Engineering at 410-386-2171. Shoulder work: John Hyde, John Shelby and Jasontown roads, from Springdale Road to Route 852; Grave Run Road, from Baltimore County to the state line. Reclaiming, storm drain work, and paving: Patriots Choice Subdivision, Kinsmen Courage Court, Bennett Road to the end. Reclaiming paving and inlet repair: Harrington subdivision, Chandler Drive, Barnes Avenue, Owings Road and Owings Court.