Community Corner

Route 1 Due for Makeover as Link to Urban Hubs

A plan to improve Route 1 for the good of counties surrounding Baltimore and Washington may be starting to move forward.

Transportation officials are working to incorporate an improved Route 1 as an important part of a transit system spanning the Baltimore-Washington region.

“It’s a spaghetti of 895 and 95 and rail crossings—it’s a very complicated geography,” according to Marsha McLaughlin, director of Howard County Planning and Zoning, speaking about the section of the Route 1 corridor where Elkridge resides. 

County officials are in the process of looking at major thoroughfares, housing and activity centers while working on the to support growth over the next 20 years. One challenge is that the number of people in Howard County at any given time is in flux, McLaughlin told a meeting sponsored by Transportation Advocates, a Howard County group, Thursday morning.

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“One third of our population migrates south in the morning,” she explained. “And, we have a huge influx of people who live in the south and are taking jobs here.”

As a result, officials from the Economic Development Authority to the County Council have voiced support of a regional system for transit through commuter rail, rapid bus and roads. 

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“Urban areas are expanding,” said Sharonlee Vogel, leader of Transportation Advocates. “It used to be that there was the Baltimore metropolitan area and the Washington metropolitan area. But especially on Route 1, 95, and 295, they’re becoming combined.”

In addition to simplifying how people travel across the region, Howard County officials are looking at how to connect the fragmented neighborhoods that exist within its borders.

“We want some connections between Baltimore and D.C. but we’re also looking at connecting activity centers and housing centers,” said McLaughlin. The Department of Planning and Zoning has a deadline of November 2011 to provide a four-year update of the long-range transportation plan, according to McLaughlin.

Citizens at Thursday’s meeting wanted to ensure that pedestrians and bicyclists would be considered when incorporating road improvements into the plan.

“I hope the county pushes at least for one side of sidewalk on Route 1,” said Cathy Hudson, who lives in Elkridge and is president of the Howard County Citizens Association. “I’m seeing people in electric wheelchairs going down the center of Route 1 and women pushing baby carriages down Buttermilk Hill.”

The head of planning herself agreed that the main drag in Elkridge left something to be desired. “I can’t imagine riding a bicycle on Route 1 now,” said McLaughlin. “We’re probably not going to encourage biking until major sections of road improvements are completed. It’s going to be a longer-term project.”

She did offer hope that the path for bikers was being cleared. “We’re working on a master plan for biking. We will be branching out, making connections to the villages [in Columbia] first and then getting out to Route 1.

“All over, biking is a challenge but we are working on that.”

In fact, Howard County received $229,000 of federal funding to design its own bike plan, according to Brian Muldoon, a planning specialist for Howard County specializing in bicycle and pedestrian transportation.

The Transportation Advocates will most likely hold a follow-up meeting about the Route 1 corridor in the fall, said Vogel.


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