Route 99

Howard County police officers fired at a car allegedly driven by a teen-ager as it bore down on them in the median of Interstate 70 during a lengthy highway chase early yesterday.Police arrested a 14-year-old boy and are seeking the driver of another car involved in the chase, police said.There were no serious injuries. Police said the boy, who was not further identified, was not struck by any bullets, but did suffer a cut hand.The pursuit began at 4: 15 a.m., when an officer spotted two Honda Accords -- one gray and one gold -- driving recklessly eastbound on Route 99 near U.S. 29 in Ellicott City, said Sgt. Morris Carroll, the department spokesman.

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An Eldersburg woman was killed early Saturday after her car veered off Route 99 near Marriottsville and hit a traffic sign post and a telephone pole, police said.Linda Catherine Fox, 54, was traveling west on Route 99 shortly after midnight when her Pontiac Grand Am went off the road about a mile west of Marriottsville Road and hit the sign post, police said.The car then hit a telephone pole, which split in half. The road was closed for seven hours.Fox was pronounced dead at the scene.The crash remains under investigation, police said.

Police logEllicott City: 3400 block of Orange Grove Court: A brown 1993 Honda Accord with Maryland tags APH 115 was stolen Monday or Tuesday.Ellicott City: 9400 block of Route 99: Someone broke a window at Mount Hebron High School between Thursday and Tuesday, entered and ransacked classrooms.Pub Date: 7/05/96

Neighbors of the Alpha Ridge Landfill in Marriottsville will have a chance tonight to comment on a plan to clean up groundwater contaminated by toxins leaking from the facility.The report's authors, environmental consultants from Virginia-based GeoTrans Inc., County Executive Charles I. Ecker, County Councilman Charles C. Feaga and officials from the county Bureau of Environmental Services will attend the meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Waverly Woods Elementary School on Route 99.

POLICE LOG* Marriottsville: 11800 block of Route 99: A white 1991 Chevrolet Cavalier with Maryland tags BAE422 was stolen Friday. Police said the keys had been left in the vehicle.

* Elkridge: 6300 block of Loudon Avenue: Someone broke the driver's side window on a 1986 Ford Escort between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday.6000 block of Adcock Lane: Someone pushed in a front door, destroying the frame about 10:30 p.m. Friday.* Ellicott City: 4700 block of Dorsey Hall Drive: Someone stole eight flower pots and plants valued at $100 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Friday.Route 99, just west of Route 29: A man was driving on Route 99, just west of Route 29, when someone threw an object, possibly a beer bottle, at his 1988 Saab about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Eighth-graders at Mount View Middle School are learning that if they don't like waiting for their school bus to cross Route 32 in Sykesville, they don't have to put up with it.More than 100 students are writing letters to the State Highway Administration, most of them lobbying for a traffic light at the intersection of routes 32 and 99."The main complaint is that it's definitely a safety hazard, coming out from Route 99 onto 32, said Thomas M. Saunders, a Mount View social studies teacher and leader of the eighth-grade teaching team.

* Ellicott City:: 3600 block of Cragsmoor Road: A rear passenger window to a 1991 Jeep Wrangler was cut Saturday and a $15 stereo bracket was stolen.* 4000 block of Arjay Circle: Someone removed a $475 Panasonic car radio, a $100 pair of Vuarnet sunglasses, a $75 pair of Oakley sunglasses and $7.50 in cash Friday or Saturday.* 4000 block of Rolling Top Road: Someone smashed a window of a 1986 Mazda pickup truck Saturday or Sunday.* 3000 block of Patuxent Overlook Court: Someone smashed the rear window of a 1982 Ford station wagon Saturday or Sunday.

Four Mount Hebron High School students received minor injuries yesterday when their sedan ran off the road on Route 99 and overturned, trapping three of them inside until rescuers could free them, said a county fire and rescue spokesman."

Responding to concerns from Howard County residents after a pair of well-publicized fatal crashes, the State Highway Administration said it will launch an $800,000 project Sunday to add new left-turn lanes at three intersections along Route 32 north of Interstate 70. The highway agency said it will build the new turn lanes on Maryland 32 at the intersections with Day Road, Amberwoods Way and the southern end of River Road - all of which lie between Old...

Glenn Colgrove awoke to the familiar thud of a car crash on Route 99 at the edge of his backyard. But unlike previous accidents there, he heard a driver screaming, "Help me." He dreaded what he would find outside. He locked the doors to his house and began walking to the wreckage of the head-on collision. A few minutes later, as he spoke with a 911 dispatcher, he watched the driver of the other vehicle, 20-year-old Doug Dellinger, die. The crash, which occurred about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 15, was not the first time smashed vehicles and injured people had ended up in Colgrove's tree-lined backyard.

It was one of those loud thumps that made Paul Cross think the boys had knocked over the television. His girlfriend instinctively knew otherwise. Peering out of her bedroom window late at night onto Route 99, Donna West saw orange flames leaping from a mangled pickup truck. "Paul, there's a car on fire in our front yard," she said. Cross laced up his sneakers and ran to the scene -- a decision that would save the 18-year-old driver's life. Cross found Eric Jason O'Brien Jr. of Woodstock unconscious, his torso dangling from his burning 1987 Ford F-150 at Route 99 and Raleigh Tavern Lane.

Route 99 continues to be troublesome to drivers and residents who live along it. "I would like to know if the speed limit is going to be reduced on Route 99 for the section in front of the new Marriotts Ridge High School?" asked Lisa Brusio Coster. She noted that the 50-mph speed limit makes it difficult for parents leaving the adjacent middle school, Mount View. "Now that we have additional traffic, as well as new student drivers traveling to the high school, shouldn't the speed limit be reduced?"

In the past I have heard many complaints about many roads in Howard County. The chief complaint generators are Route 32, U.S. 40 and roundabouts wherever they are located. But based on the number of comments and questions received over the past few weeks, I believe Route 99 may nudge aside these roads to take its place as Howard County's worst. Joseph Schroen probably agrees with that assessment. Although he does not live on Route 99, he lives just off it, on Melba Road in Ellicott City.

ANN FINNERAN lives in Riverside Estates, near the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. Her neighborhood's entrance is at the last remaining traffic light on U.S. 29 south in Howard, at Rivers Edge Road. There is no light for traffic headed north on U.S. 29 at this site. "The trauma is attempting to exit the neighborhood and get onto U.S. 29 north," she said. To do so, drivers must wait at the light, cross over U.S. 29 south, and then enter the left lane of northbound U.S. 29. From this position, drivers find it very difficult to take the next exit - to eastbound Route 32 - because the exit comes up so quickly.

THERE IS no shortage of dangerous roads and intersections in Howard County. Last week, I asked for nominations for your most dreaded places to drive. Much of your e-mail focused on five roads: Route 32, U.S. 1, U.S. 40, Route 108 and U.S. 29. Tom Farrow suggested that what I was seeking was nominations for a literal "Hit Parade": "I vote for the Shaker Driver merger to Route 32 west as number one on your Hit Parade," he wrote. "After you battle the traffic getting off Route 32 west onto Shaker Drive, you have to merge onto the same lane that Route 32 west is using to merge onto U.S. 29 north.

I AM NOMINATING Route 99 to my top 10 worst places to drive. In the past year, I have received the most complaints about various stretches along this crowded road. Burton Eberlein has concerns about Route 99 where it intersects Maplewood Drive; Waverly Elementary School is nearby. "The big problem is the limited line of sight for Maplewood drivers [trying to enter Route 99]. It is complicated by shrubs and wood walls left and right at the top of Maplewood [on private property], a white stop bar too far away from the very top of Maplewood, sensors [that]

EVEN ROADS that have had their problems "fixed" sometimes come back to haunt us, and such is the case with U.S. 29. Frustrated motorists have always complained about portions of this highway, and Randy Bieganski joins this joyful bunch. "What in the world is going on with the increase in traffic volume heading west on Route 99 from U.S. 29 during evening rush hour?" he asked in a recent e-mail, noting that the heavier volume starts with the completed construction of the second on ramp to [Interstate]

IT HAS happened to everyone. You've waited patiently behind a slow-moving line of cars for your turn to merge and move on. Up comes this jerk of a driver whose time, apparently, is more precious than yours. He (or she) drives up on the shoulder until worming his way in several cars in front of yours. Before you blow your gasket, you should know that you have company, among whom is Douglas Dribben. He noted that this annoying driver misbehavior is common on Route 100, where it divides to join U.S. 29. Mr. Dribben notes that numerous roads in the area have lanes that are clearly marked for turning to the right or left to merge onto another road.