Is
political influence blocking changing
intersections which are killers?
That influence certainly isn't bringing
about solutions.
By
Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S
TODAY
CHARLOTTE
HALL (Oct. 21, 2007) --- Several
intersections along the Rt. 235/Rt. 5
Corridor which are wide open, allow up
to 16 legal maneuvers but with the
intersection limited by the construction
of channeled lanes, such as took place
at the intersection of Rt. 6 and
Morganza-Turner Road with Rt. 235 at
Oraville, the number of legal turns is
cut down to four. Why these
intersections are allowed to remain a
danger when a solution is available is a
question which demands an answer.
Having
channeled lanes limit an intersection
can keep the flow of traffic going,
while avoiding the installation of a
traffic light, but still allow cross
traffic from side roads onto main
highways.
The
impatience of young drivers has caused
multiple fatalities along this corridor,
as has the failure of elderly drivers to
correctly judge the speed of oncoming
traffic.
The
intersection of Oaks Cooksey Swamp Road
(Mt. Wolfe) with Rt. 5 in Charlotte Hall
is one example where a teen driver
failed to wait until she had a clear
line of view and pulled out on the
highway and she and her passenger were
hit by a truck and killed.
At Oraville,
a teen driver failed to yield to a
southbound dump truck and killed her and
two passengers. At Mt. Wolfe Road, a
full scale traffic light was installed;
at Oraville a channelization of the
intersection was completed.
From the
Maryland State Highway Road Safety
Guidelines: Constructing dedicated
turning lanes and traffic channelization
at high-risk intersections can reduce
fatalities by 47%.
Other
intersections which are wide open to all
maneuvers without restriction or
regulation are in front of the Bean
Medical Center in Hollywood, the
intersection of South Sandgates Road,
Clover Hill Road and Rt. 235 at
Hillville and the intersection in front
of the Farmers Market in Charlotte Hall.
All three
intersections have been the scene of
fatal wrecks and are highly dangerous by
any measure and should be limited by
channeled lanes.
At the Bean
Center, many patients who are elderly
and in their eighties and nineties and
still driving, and perhaps fit to drive,
are unable to properly understand the
speed of vehicles which are southbound
on Rt. 235 as they attempt to cross the
southbound lanes of the highway to turn
left to proceed northbound.
One such
wreck involved the late St. Mary’s
Commissioner President J. Wilmer Bowles
who pulled out in front of a vehicle and
was hit in the driver’s side, killing
Bowles instantly.
Traffic on
this stretch of Rt. 235 usually flows at
an average speed of about 70 mph even
though the speed limit is 55. It is not
unusual to see some motorists fly by at
speeds of at least 80 mph.
One of the
favorite radar trap sites of Maryland
State Troopers is just about a mile
north of the Bean Building near St.
John’s Pharmacy. While that speed
enforcement helps, more vigorous
enforcement by deputies and troopers in
the overall Rt. 235/Rt. 5 area is needed
to slow traffic.
But families
of many elderly drivers dare not tell
the old folks to hang up their keys and
quit driving due to diminished capacity
or the side effects of medication.
Drivers are also reluctant to give
advice to patients to end their driving
careers and the Bean Center, the area’s
largest medical facility, is one of the
principal driving destinations for
elderly drivers.
The
political influence of the Shah
Associates is about the local equivalent
to the NRA on the national political
scene and the politicians cannot be
expected to show any leadership in
advocating any limitation on the highway
access to the Bean Medical Center.
The old
folks can’t be blamed for not wanting to
quit driving as many have no family
members willing to take them to the
doctor while others are still raising
their grandchildren due to the substance
abuse of the parents of those
grandchildren.
One of the
other chief problem intersections along
this corridor is the one in front of the
Farmer’s Market, which is part of a
large tract of land owned by the
politically influential developer Ben
Burroughs and his business partners.
The
remarkable genius of the State Highway
Administration traffic engineers is
shown by their solutions to the
congestion at the Farmer’s Market
entrance: they painted lines on the
highway indicating to drivers how they
are supposed to turn. No channeled
lanes, no traffic signal, no closing of
the intersection, no nothing, it’s the
same as it was in 1970 while traffic has
soared.
The
shortsighted solution to the Rt. 5
bypass at Hughesville has simply shoved
the bottleneck further south to
Charlotte Hall. Ultimately, the total
lack of sanity in the planning process
of the State Highway Administration
shows that these people are only about
highways and uninterested in the overall
problem of “transportation”, as in the
bypass constructed at Hughesville the
“planners” bisected the railroad
right-of-way for about a mile, making
future use of this right-of-way more
expensive to correct in the future when
commuter rail service, the only logical
solution to highway congestion, is
built.
Not one
whimper came from any elected officials
when the SHA ripped into the railroad
right of way. None objected. Most of
them showed up for the silly ribbon
cutting of the bypass.
The bypass
was a boondoggle of the worst possible
waste of money in that the highway
through Hughesville could have been
widened and the overpass could have been
built right at the intersection, the
tobacco barns razed and the savings put
towards establishing commuter rail.
But the SHA
and politicians were hell-bent for
leather to follow an idea which was
originally proposed in the 1960’s but
had lost it’s purpose with the realities
of the traffic challenges of this
century.
When they
finally got the funding for the bypass
they proceeded and as soon as it was
built, it was bastardized by a left turn
from the new bypass into Hughesville
propelling traffic right across the
southbound lanes, sure to bring more
business back to the body shops, the
rescue squad and the nearest funeral
home, all important parts of our local
culture and economy.
The funding
of the Hughesville bypass became a
political football with the Republicans
trying to claim credit, even trotting
out then-Gov. Ehrlich to “dedicate” a
poorly designed overpass, which could
have collected northbound traffic into
Hughesville instead of letting it cross
the south bound lanes, but blew the
opportunity. But they had a silly
ribbon-cutting anyway.
When the
bypass was completed, the political
honchos all showed up again for another
ribbon cutting and many people were
worried that the damn fools would shut
down the highway to cut the ribbon.
They didn’t, as they would likely been
mowed down by a number of Mack trucks
and they very wisely conducted the
ceremony off to one side.
Again the
Republicans tried to claim credit while
it was Congressman Steny Hoyer (D. Md. 5th)
who grabbed federal money, in the
infamous “earmark” process of pork
barrel politics in Washington to fund
most of the project. Hoyer ought to use
the same power to yank the ridiculous
expenditure of $2 million for a
pedestrian footbridge for St. Mary’s
College students who are obviously too
challenged to be able to cross Rt. 5,
the same feat accomplished by elementary
school students across America every
day, by looking both ways before walking
out onto the crosswalk.
The $2
million Hoyer obtained for St. Mary’s
College should be used for advancing the
planning of the second span of the
Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge over the
Patuxent River at Solomon’s Island or
towards putting MARC commuter trains on
existing CSX tracks into Southern
Maryland.
The ultimate
solution for the intense traffic on the
Rt. 5 / Rt. 235 corridor must come about
from political leadership. While the
legislators and county commissioners
make their way around the county
attending meetings and suppers, they too
have to use this corridor and they ought
to get their heads together and figure
out that so does everyone else, many of
them at the same time, therein lies the
problem.
The railroad
right of way parallels the Rt. 235 / Rt.
5 corridor and is 95 percent intact,
while some of it has stupid paths and
trails being built on it, yet another
boondoggle which will be the subject of
a separate report, the solution to the
problem is ignored by most of the
political leaders with the exception of
Congressman Hoyer, Sen. Roy Dyson (D.
St. Mary’s, Charles, Calvert), St.
Mary’s Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R.
Golden Beach) and Del. John Bohanan (D.
Lexington Park, California).
One would
think that those four politicians would
have enough horsepower to bring about a
solution to the Rt. 235/ Rt. 5 corridor
problems, first to fix dangerous
intersections, and second to get
commuter rail running.
Dyson is
preparing legislation to require MARC to
institute commuter trains into the
region within one year, Hoyer says he
supports doing this. Jarboe is
currently chairman of the
Tri-County-Council and Bohanan is an
important committee chairman in the
House of Delegates.
Time will
tell what solutions these four horses
can bring to play for the transportation
problems facing the fastest growing
region of the state.
The
transportation study commission set up
by legislation by Dyson and Bohanan is
finally getting around to conducting
public meetings this coming week.
This wreck at Airport View Drive and Rt.
235 in Hollywood is another wide open
intersection which will see even more
traffic and wrecks due to a stupid
planning decision recently made by both
the State Highway Administration and the
St. Mary's County government to allow
Smartronics company to have a highway
access on Rt. 235 just south of the
dangerous Bean Medical Center entrance.
This defense contractor enjoys strong
political support as does the Shah
Medical Group. Both companies are
vital members of the community but that
status should not translate into
increasing the risk of death on Rt. 235.
ST. MARY'S TODAY photo
A popular crash intersection on this
corridor is closer to the new entrance
to Smartronics, and a stipulation that
the firm would aid in the cost of a
traffic light IF one is deemed needed in
the future was added by the mental
midgets in St. Mary's County government.
This scene is but one of dozens which
have taken place at this intersection,
which is located at Clarks Landing Road
and Rt. 235. A new townhouse
development is also being planned nearby
on the old Rt. 235 in Sandy Bottom.
ST. MARY'S TODAY photo
