Maryland State Senator Roy P. Dyson is leading a Commission to Study Southern Maryland Transportation intending to create a “comprehensive study that will recommend how we can better get around our congested roadways so that we don’t spend so much time in traffic.” Calvert County is represented by Commissioner Linda Kelley.

This letter suggests a set of Goals and Principles for elected officials to consider for providing the State Highway Administration (SHA) a specific set of guidelines to implement. These suggestions will improve traffic flow and significantly reduce congestion if applied throughout Calvert County. Other traffic flow improvements will occur with an overpass (SHA planned, but not yet funded) constructed at Ward Road and Rt. 4 as well as an improved egress/regress method (no SHA plans yet) other than the currently employed traffic lights at Town Center Boulevard/Dunkirk Park and Rt 4. The presence of the current set of traffic lights in Dunkirk Town Center contributes the most to current congestion than anything else.

Goals

      Minimize cost – much less than currently projected for planned (yet not funded) such as 6 lane highways and overpasses

      Improve the Traffic Flow throughout Southern Maryland, Calvert County and the Dunkirk area specifically

      Provide a “model” for future transportation studies across the state

      Reduce commuter stress during morning or evening rush hour traffic caused by the gridlock

      Decrease concerns about safety and incidents of traffic accidents

      Reduce traffic congestion

Principles

  1. No Cross-over intersections permitted on Route 2, Route 4, and Route 2/4
  2. Minimize or eliminate Left Turns
  3. Use existing Road Shoulders (both left and right shoulders) for use when/as necessary to serve as Acceleration and Deceleration Lanes
  4. Acceleration and Deceleration Lanes should not co-exist on the same spot of land as this is a place awaiting for an accident to occur
  5. No 6 lane roads. Existing 2 lanes North/South for Route 4 should remain rejecting the current State Highway Administration (SHA) plans for Route 4 having 3 lanes North/South from the Washington Beltway to Prince Frederick
  6. Replace existing traffic hazardous Cross-over intersections with more creative Elongated U-Turns
  7. Remove Traffic Lights unless cross-traffic is of comparable density
  8. Emphasis is on Traffic Flow (benefiting commuters at large) vice Individual Driving Conveniences

Observations

     Population growth contributes the most to increased traffic congestion than anything. Once growth is properly controlled, other effective measures can be employed to control traffic.

     Highway and Road planners typically default to placing traffic lights at intersections. While relatively cheap, these devices impede traffic and become the second most contributors to gridlock. 

     Traffic is slowed and then becomes b