Posted on 11/10/2017 7:18:36 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
OAKLAND — The Maryland Department of Transportation is taking another look at the Oakland bypass project. Deputy Transportation Secretary Jim Ports made the announcement during MDOT’s annual meeting with local residents and officials last Friday morning at the courthouse.
Every year, MDOT officials present a draft of their six-year Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP) during a tour of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City.
“We have decided to reignite the decision for the Oakland bypass,” Ports told local residents last week. “We’re going to look at a practical-design approach to try and save money.”
He said the decision was made after State Secretary Peter Rahn met with Oakland officials recently to discuss the project. Ports indicated that Rahn used the practical-design approach when he served as New Mexico’s transportation secretary.
“We’ll have more details coming soon,” Ports said about the bypass project, which is listed in the CTP draft.
The 2.4-mile $10 million initiative had been in limbo for several years because of state funding issues. The project, which would reroute U.S. 219 away from downtown Oakland and through a residential area, has received both positive and negative responses from local residents during MDOT tour meetings for numerous years. It has also been on the “wish list” that various Garrett County commissioner boards have presented to state officials at those sessions. This year was no different.
Director Deborah Carpenter, Garrett County Department of Planning and Land Management, reviewed the current board’s list of priorities, which pertain to planning, safety, system preservation, sidewalk and streetscape projects, trail and pedestrian projects, transit and regional initiatives. The Oakland bypass tops the list in two of those categories.
“Our number one planning and number one safety priorities remain the same as last year,” she said, “and both involve properly directing truck traffic away from a vital community center, Oakland.”
Under planning, the director indicated, a truck corridor feasibility study is needed to provide a broader perspective. It would analyze the volume and flow of truck traffic that currently exists, identifying routes that were not designed for such traffic and recommend alternatives.
“The number one safety priority, the Oakland bypass, has a municipal focus and looks specifically at detouring trucks outside of Oakland,” Carpenter said.
She also noted that the county’s number one regional priority is the relocation of U.S. 219 North near Grantsville. The goal of the two-state project is to connect the Appalachian Development Highway System from Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, to Interstate 68.
“SHA (State Highway Administration) is progressing with the $72.2 million upgrade and relocation of U.S. 219 from north of I-68 to Old Salisbury Road,” Ports reported.
“The project includes the replacement of the existing intersection at I-68 entrance and exit ramps with a roundabout.”
He anticipates construction will begin next spring and be completed in the summer of 2021.
Commissioner Paul Edwards commended Ports, other highway officials, and Gov. Larry Hogan for moving the Rt. 219 North project forward.
“That started in the ’60s,” Edwards said about the initiative. “It’s been talked about for decades, and we certainly thought that it never was going to happen.”
David Moe, Garrett County Development Corporation, also thanked MDOT and SHA for “the movement.”
“That’s a fantastic project,” he said. “It’s moving with lightening speed, in my opinion, when you consider all of the environmental and historical possibilities.”
He also thanked state highway officials for reinstating the Oakland bypass project.
“In my opinion, it’s needed,” Moe said.
He called trucks traffic on U.S. 219/Third Street through Oakland, which has parking on both sides of the street, a “nightmare.”
“The truck relocation project for (U.S.) 219 is imperative for the growth of this community,” Moe said.
Mountain Lake Park resident Debby Ward disagreed. She was a member of a group called Garrett Countians For Smart Growth, which helped educate the public about the project and actively opposed the initiative for well over a decade.
Ward told Ports she was “discouraged” to hear that the bypass is being reconsidered. As at past MDOT meetings, she questioned the need to reroute traffic through a residential area for safety reasons.
“I can’t get my head around the idea that a 2.4-mile two-lane 50 mph highway with a roundabout is a safety option,” Ward said. “We can’t even get the people in downtown Oakland to go 25 miles per hour.”
She also questioned the need to lessen “congestion” in Oakland. Ward indicated that previously cited reasons for the bypass — the possibility of increased truck traffic because of “fracking” and a predicted population “boom” — are no longer relevant. The practice of hydraulic fracturing has been banned, plus the county’s population has been actually decreasing.
She said the busiest time in Oakland is when people are going to work, when stores open at 9 a.m., and when people leave work. The average wait at a stop light during these time frames is 12 minutes, Ward indicated.
“I might have to sit through the traffic light twice,” she said. “I’ve said this enough for it to be trite, ‘If you cannot spare 12 minutes in your life, then you need to readjust your life.’ But most of the time you can go right through Oakland.”
She added that recent SHA improvements in Oakland — adding center turning lanes, synchronizing traffic lights, and placing a no-turn-on red sign at the intersection of Alder and Third streets — have been beneficial.
Ward also noted that Oakland businesses and officials have been applying for grants for projects to improve the downtown area.
“Why would you enhance downtown Oakland if you build a road to bypass it?” she asked.
She indicated that most motorists will not want to make the effort or take the time to go downtown. They will just take the U.S. 219 bypass and go around the town.
“So, again,” Ward asked, “how is that a safety issue?”
Oakland Mayor Peggy Jamison said she appreciated Ward’s comments, but thanked MDOT for reigniting the U.S. 219 relocation project and looking at it from a practical approach.
“I appreciate that,” Jamison told Ports.
Statewide, MDOT’s fiscal year 2018-2023 CTP draft allocates $14.7 billion over the next six years in transit, highways, Motor Vehicle Administration facilities, the port of Baltimore and the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. An addition $2.6 billion will go to toll roads and bridges. More information can be found at www.mdot.maryland.gov/newMDOT/Planning/CTP/Index.html.
I thought the standard for Commies was Five year plans - what gives with the 6 year plan?
It’s just that — number of years. No better, no worse.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Pikers! The council in my town spent $6 million on 1/2 mile of road, putting in islands, trees, and bike lanes. Killed a couple of small businesses including a GREAT pizza place with the access problems that lasted a year.
The road remained a 2 lane bottleneck, but it was all prettified...
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