Planning is now under way for a million dollar project to “calm” traffic driving through St. Mary’s City. Two years ago plans were abandoned for either a footbridge over Route 5 or an underpass. Now consultants are working on alternate plans to protect walkers and bikers in the college and historic district areas.
The Capital Design Advisory Committee, consisting of members from St. Mary’s College, Historic St. Mary’s City and the general public held the first of four public meetings Tuesday night to find out what the public wants. The design committee was established after the public outcry over the college’s Waterfront Center.
A one million dollar federal grant has been in place for several years. Baltimore-based consulting firm McCormick Taylor will develop three alternates which will be presented at a public meeting on September. At Tuesday’s meeting Allysha Lorber of the consulting firm outlined the general framework under which they are developing design alternatives.
Route 5 and the area on either side have been broken into three sections: the core area in the heart of the campus, a transition zone on either side of the core area and an approach area on either side of the transitions zones.
A range of design alternatives are under consideration, according to Lorber. For the approach area there could be warning strips, transverse markings and landscape clusters, such as fences.
For the roadway in the transition zone there could be colored crosswalks, colored shoulders, splitter islands, narrowed road widths and a roundabout. For the roadside in the transition zone there could be gateway features, separated paths, an “allee” of trees, lighting and banners.
For the roadway in the core area there could be chicane (or zigzag) pattern, long speed bumps, a median, road narrowing and curbing, curb bump cuts. For the roadside in the core area there could be decorative fences, gateway features, trees, decorative lights and sidewalks.
Lorber emphasized, “We have not done a design for the project,” and all options were open. She said there preliminary look at the area showed some unsafe crossing situations for walkers and bikers. And some places where crossing occurs regularly don’t even have crosswalks.
Committee member Chip Jackson, the college’s associate vice president of Planning and Facilities, said that the design would be done keeping in mind that Route 5 was a public road and a commuter route for Webster Field, and also an emergency route. During the public comment section, Bobby Balta, of the Ridge VFD, asked that the consultants keep in mind the needs of emergency vehicles. Lorber said the design would maintain a minimum 30-foot roadway section.
Prior to the presentation on the calming project, Don Branigan, the college’s director of design and construction, gave an overview of several other college projects. The parking lot of the Campus Center will shortly become the relocated home of Margaret Brent Ha
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