An estimated 175 residents came to a standing-room only community meeting at the Church of God headquarters on Thursday 1/23 to review and discuss the SHA proposal to eliminate the signal on Route 29 and Rivers Edge Road.
The meeting was also attended by Councilwoman Deb Jung, aides to State Senator Guzzone, Delagate Pendergrass and Delegate Atterbeary as well as journalist Ana Faguy who covers Howard County for the Baltimore Sun.
At the meeting, Stephanie Cates-Harman spoke on behalf of the neighborhood intersection working group and presented the history of the interactions between our neighborhood and SHA including SHA’s past conclusion that an overpass should be built.
Deb Jung provided guidance as to how we might proceed and who we should be contacting including Governor Hogan and MDOT Secretary Greg Slater. She also suggested we attend (en-masse) the Howard County Transportation Priority meeting on February 20th (see letter below) and make it clear that a permanent, safe solution to our intersection such as the overpass, needs to be a top Howard County priority.
Please watch this website for more detailed information that will be posted by Sunday January 26th.
https://dot.nebraska.gov/media/5715/final-report-p582.pdf
This document seems to recommend a merge lane length of 1510 feet for merging from a stop into 55mph traffic. See page 12. (2490ft merging into 65mph traffic which would be more typical of reality. ). My measurements, rough though they may be, come to the existing merge ramp entering south bound 29 to be about 500 feet. For safe access we need the light or a ramp lane for us crossing the bridge.