Traffic Circle

Over the past month, Girl Scout Troop 4830 completed a beautification project in Jarrettsville's Hunt Field Community, enhancing a formerly barren traffic circle with flowering plants, bulbs and deciduous trees. This project, part of a year-long effort, was undertaken to meet the troop's Silver Award requirements, which include 50 hours of participation by each girl. Adopting the theme "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle," the five girls grew many of the plants from cuttings and seeds and made their own compost. Support was also received from the community, friends and family members of the participating Scouts.

Residents in the Charles Village area  really like their quirky new neighbor, Charlie, who seems to live in the middle of a traffic circle. For many residents, Charlie is the only thing they do like about the controversial traffic circle at 32nd Street and Guilford Avenue in Abell. But the Baltimore City Department of Transportation doesn't like Charlie one bit.  Officials say Charlie is a safety hazard and  threatened to physically remove him Friday,  Nov. 22, unless the community - or the artist who created him - took him down first.

The letter in the Dec. 28 Catonsville Times about traffic at the Old Frederick Road circle ("Too little speed and too little courtesy at Old Frederick circle,") indicates the confusion drivers have with traffic circles. The signs say to yield to traffic in the circle. Unless I'm mistaken, that means always yielding to your left because that is the direction of the traffic flow. When I approach the circle, I yield to my left and follow after the last car to my left or when an opening occurs to my left.

A plan in the works for a Towson Bike Beltway in Towson was good news. A plan to expand that beltway is even better news. The proposed beltway will more than double in size after grant money was awarded recently through the Maryland Bikeways Program. Five extensions from the original loop made possible with the $90,000 grant will add bike lanes, road painting and signage to 4.5 miles of Towson roads in addition to the original 4.2 mile loop currently under construction. Although "procurement issues" have delayed completion of the original loop, County Councilman David Marks said commitment to the project's completion is assured.

Construction of a mini-traffic circle began Monday at 39th Street and Canterbury Road in Tuscany-Canterbury, and is already affecting one local restaurant in a roundabout way. Dino Zeytinoglu, owner of La Famiglia, an Italian restaurant in the Broadview Apartments near the circle site, said he had a party of 106 people coming for dinner Monday night and was worried that they would have difficulty getting to the restaurant, especially on a rainy...

About a dozen Tuscany-Canterbury residents, including their city councilwoman, gathered Wednesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the neighborhood's new traffic circle, which they hope will make the intersection of 39th Street and Canterbury safer. "It's kind of a non-threatening place, but it's busy," said 14th District Councilwoman and longtime resident Mary Pat Clarke. Clarke was relieved when the circle, a hotly debated traffic-calming device, opened last month. "This is the first time since I moved here in 1967 that I pull into this intersection from Canterbury (Road)

Residents in the Charles Village area  really like their quirky new neighbor, Charlie, who seems to live in the middle of a traffic circle. For many residents, Charlie is the only thing they do like about the controversial traffic circle at 32nd Street and Guilford Avenue in Abell. But the Baltimore City Department of Transportation doesn't like Charlie one bit.  Officials say Charlie is a safety hazard and  threatened to physically remove him Friday,  Nov. 22, unless the community - or the artist who created him - took him down first.

I routinely use the traffic circle going north and south on Old Frederick Road and have had numerous near misses, mainly from drivers traveling west on Edmondson Avenue. The problem is many drivers drive west on Edmondson Avenue as if they have the right of way, no matter how long someone is at one of the other three positions in the circle. This is especially true during evening rush hour traffic. A consistent observation is that a line of cars will try to continue through the circle without letting drivers on Old Frederick proceed.

Lisbon residents never wanted to be part of the State Highway Administration's "roundabout" traffic circle experiment to begin with.And they say two traffic accidents in less than two weeks since construction began on the project is proof enough that highway officials didn't make sense when they said there's not enough traffic to justify installing a signal at the intersection of Routes 144 and 94."I'm angry that that would happen," said County Councilman Charles C. Feaga, a Republican who represents western Howard.

After a successful six-month trial run, Lisbon's "roundabout" traffic circle should be a permanent fixture by Friday.Construction crews were to pour concrete this weekend for the center of the traffic circle at Routes 144 and 94 and complete work Friday on four islands that channel vehicles into and out of the roundabout.If rain pre-empts the concrete work, the project will be delayed by one week.State Highway Administration officials persuaded skeptical Lisbon residents in April to accept the temporary roundabout, the first of its kind in the state.

Attorney Robert Erwin pruned ivy on a tree outside his house Sunday afternoon as cars rolled through Baltimore City's new roundabout at 39th Street and Canterbury Road. So, he was asked, is the traffic-calming device a good thing or a bad thing? “It's a bad thing,” Erwin declared. “It doesn't seem to be slowing down traffic, especially early in the morning during rush hour. And B, I think it's ugly.” But four days earlier, as a month of construction work wound down on the controversial traffic circle, 25 residents came together at the finished site July 10 for a group photo that also served as a show of solidarity and support, at least until the novelty wears off. “We're trying to be positive about it,” said Kenna Forsyth, a 37-year resident.

Construction of a mini-traffic circle began Monday at 39th Street and Canterbury Road in Tuscany-Canterbury, and is already affecting one local restaurant in a roundabout way. Dino Zeytinoglu, owner of La Famiglia, an Italian restaurant in the Broadview Apartments near the circle site, said he had a party of 106 people coming for dinner Monday night and was worried that they would have difficulty getting to the restaurant, especially on a rainy...

A stretch of Seven Courts Drive in Perry Hall where a local resident was killed in 2012 will be reconstructed this spring an effort to slow traffic and improve safety. County Councilman David Marks, whose 5th District includes Perry Hall, announced the project Feb. 13 by the county Department of Public Works. He said the $10,000 project should be finished by Memorial Day. Plans call for installing a brick island with pedestrian crossing on the road between the Seven Oaks Senior Center and Seven Oaks Elementary School.

The developer of a casino scheduled to open next month at Arundel Mills will temporarily restrict southbound access to the mall beginning next week during road construction to prepare for an expected traffic increase. Work on the $5 million in traffic and road upgrades began Tuesday, officials from the Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. announced. The centerpiece of the plan is a new interchange at the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Arundel Mills Boulevard in Hanover. The $500 million Maryland!

I agree with the letter about yielding to traffic in a circle coming from the left and blending in as soon as possible ("Yield to left at roundabout and to right at four-way stop," Catonsville Times, Jan. 4). I have found that many people needlessly come to a complete stop when they reach the circle. They are probably upset by people to their right that do not also stop and let them go. We need to be educated so that everyone knows to slow down when they reach the circle but not stop if no one is in the circle or it is possible to blend in. Another reason for driver education is the speed bumps recently added on Westchester and Rockwell avenues.

Just as they did with flying American flags over highway overpasses a decade ago, State Highway Administration officials should find a way to allow well-meaning citizens to fly flags in places such as traffic circles. The issue arose a couple of weeks ago in Woodbine. The Winkler family had been tending a small American flag in a traffic circle just north of Route 70 on Woodbine Road since they erected it three years ago to welcome home a nephew returning from an Army base before being sent to Afghanistan.

Annapolis officials are seeking name suggestions for the new traffic circle at West Street and Taylor Avenue.The city Department of Planning and Zoning wants proposals from residents and organizations accompanied by a written explanation of 200 words or less of why the name should be chosen.Only one suggestion is allowed per applicant or group, and the name and phone number of someone to contact should be included.The deadline for nominations is Monday, after which the Taylor/West Design Advisory Committee will hold a public hearing.

Robert Humphreys finds the idea of a Towson roundabout downright loopy.In case you haven't heard, the State Highway Administration has proposed creating a traffic circle in one of Baltimore County's most crowded intersections.It's the confluence of York, Joppa and Dulaney Valley roads and Allegheny Avenue in Towson just a stone's throw from Towson Town Center. Drivers measure their time there by the inch -- cars creep like tranquilized turtles.Traffic studies rate the intersection as an "E," the lowest of the letter grades for congestion.

I am writing in response to the Dec. 28 letter regarding the traffic circle on Edmondson Avenue and Old Frederick Road ("Too much speed and too little courtesy at Old Frederick circle," Catonsville Times). According to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration website, "Approach roads to roundabouts are controlled by yield signs. Entering traffic must always yield to traffic already in the roundabout. Cautiously approach the yield line and wait for an acceptable gap in traffic.