Route 100

After reading the article in The Howard County Sun on Nov. 27, I canunderstand why many communities are upset with the Route 100 proposal Hunt Country Estates residents submitted to the State Highway Administration. Being a resident of Hunt Country Estates and being involved with this proposal, I feel the article does not fully address what was intended. The map in the article was extremely vague, and the underlying issues of this proposal were not mentioned.The southern shift proposal is an attempt to provide the community with an "all-win" alternative.

The State Highway Administration will detail pros and cons tonight of eight options for Route 100's future path through southern EllicottCity.Most vulnerable is the Hunt Country Estates subdivision, where the SHA has offered to buy eight homes to make way for Route 100.Two of the homes would be razed, and six would be severely affected by the six-lane highway in the current SHA plan.The options to be presented tonight follow a request last November by Hunt Country Estates residents, who asked the SHA to consider other alternatives, including one mapped by residents.

Maryland State Police have charged six Anne Arundel County teenagers and one Carroll County youth with assault, reckless endangerment and destruction of property stemming from a weekend rock-throwing incident at a Route 100 overpass that left several cars damaged. Police say the suspects are male, ranging in age from 15 to 17. They were charged as juveniles and will not be identified, police said. Authorities learned of the incident shortly before midnight Saturday, when police responded to the area of Route 100 at the WB&A Road overpass for a report of several disabled vehicles, according to a news release issued yesterday.

For a big-time highway, it's downright pathetic.At least that's what we're hearing from numerous readers these days. They regard Route 100 in Howard County as the Chihuahua of thoroughfares -- cute, but small.At the moment, Howard County's portion of Route 100 is just a 2-mile long, two-lane affair running from U.S. 29 east to Route 104. In Howard County, they have driveways longer than that.Even so, it's a mighty popular little piece of road, a useful link for local residents headed to southbound Interstate 95. Take Route 100 to Route 104 to Route 108 to Route 175 to I-95, and you'll eventually find Newt Gingrich's place.

State Highway Administration engineers yesterday unveiled what might be the peacemaker in an 18-month battle over where Route 100 will be built in southern Ellicott City.In a closed-door briefing with the Howard County Council, county administration, state legislative delegation and federal regulators, highway designers presented the newest alignments for the six-lane highway, along with their respective impacts to homes and wetlands.The newest route would avoid houses in the Hunt Country Estates subdivision off Route 103 and steer much farther from condominiums in the Village of Montgomery Run than a previous alternative.

Brampton Hills residents who live near a planned extension of Route 100 asked state highway officials last night to install sound barriers before construction begins next month.But State Highway Administration officials said they need at least a month to determine the type of sound barriers that can be used.About 100 residents met with SHA representatives, Howard County and state politicians to learn more about the extension of Route 100 to the U.S. 29 interchange.Construction is scheduled to begin in August on a two-lane expansion of Route 100 that will connect the interchange of U.S. 29 and Route 103 and also hook up with a road being built by developer Patrick McCuan near the Brampton Hills neighborhood in Ellicott City.

If a day-care provider can design a highway, perhaps a county councilman can, too.County Councilman C. Vernon Gray has asked state highway designers to consider shortening exit ramps on Route 100 to make the road friendlier to wetlands, a change that he says could allow the State Highway Administration to use the highway alignment approved by the county's elected officials in 1987."

Homeowners who may lose their homes to Route 100 have gone on the offensive, taking their congressman and other officials to the heart ofthe issue -- the Deep Run stream -- and offering an alternative thathas already drawn opposition from neighboring communities.By federal standards, the stream is such a valuable ecological resource that Route 100, a planned highway connecting U.S. 29 in Ellicott City toAnne Arundel County, must be diverted through a segment of Hunt Country Estates to save 2.55 acres of the stream's wetlands.

A nine-year veteran Bladensburg police officer was killed Saturday after veering his marked vehicle off an Anne Arundel County highway and colliding with a car traveling in the opposite direction, police said. Officer Brian Johnson, 38, who was off duty when the collision occurred about 9 a.m., is believed to have experienced a medical emergency just prior to the collision, Anne Arundel County Police said, though no specifics were immediately available. Police believe Johnson was traveling eastbound on Route 100 near Catherine Avenue in Pasadena when he suddenly crossed the center median.

As part of a $30 million project to extend Maryland Route 100 from Interstate 95 to Route 295, new access ramps will open in Elkridge this week, the Maryland State Highway Administration said. says.Ramps from eastbound Route 100 to southbound U.S. 1, from eastbound Route 100 to northbound U.S. 1, and from northbound U.S. 1 to westbound Route 100 (to Interstate 95 ramps) will open Thursday. The new Route 100-U.S. 1 interchange will replace an existing intersection and stop light.While construction of the southbound U.S. 1 to westbound Route 100 ramp continues, motorists will be detoured to Route 175. The detour will remain in effect for about six months.