Calvert Board Weighs In on Traffic Tangle In Dunkirk

Route 4 Light Preferred Over Ditching Turn Lane

Calvert County commissioners told state transportation officials Tuesday that they favor a stoplight at Route 4 and Brickhouse Road in Dunkirk instead of shutting down a left-turn lane on Route 4.

Commissioners had asked engineers from the State Highway Administration to delay the agency's plan last month to end left turns from southbound Route 4 onto Brickhouse Road and asked them to publicly explain the project.

"If there is a change in a traffic pattern that is long term, I think you need to tell the people," said Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown). "That is why you are here."

A high number of crashes had occurred at the intersection. In 2002, the State Highway Administration created a "modified T" at the intersection, adding concrete curbs to make dedicated turning lanes.

However, crashes continued, including three fatalities, and the engineers took another look, said Kimberly M. Tran, the state highway agency's assistant traffic engineer for greater Southern Maryland.

Tran said that accidents occur when vehicles turning left onto Route 4 south from Brickhouse Road are unable to see vehicles making a left onto Brickhouse from Route 4.

She said that she and her colleagues decided to remove the southbound Route 4 left-turn lane because it would affect the fewest cars. A traffic light would increase rear-end collisions in what would otherwise be an open highway, Tran said. Because there is three-quarters of a mile between the traffic light at Town Center Boulevard and Brickhouse Road, another light at Brickhouse would not synchronize easily.

"We want to maintain mobility in this corridor and not line up lights," Tran said.

Several commissioners said Tuesday that they favor the modified-T intersection with a light that would control the left-turning traffic, a system that is in use at several spots in the county, including Plum Point and Broomes Island roads.

Lee Starkloff, the state's chief engineer for Southern Maryland, said that traffic lights take about a year to deliver and cost about $200,000. He said that engineers did not want "to dismiss something that was faster and [required] much less funding."

Starkloff said the plan to install a temporary barrier to prevent the left turn from Route 4 onto Brickhouse would be studied for 90 days, starting in about two weeks. The engineers will monitor U-turns and traffic traveling on Route 260 to get to Brickhouse.

Commissioner Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) said that the back roads from Route 260, such as Ward Road, are "treacherous" and could present problems if traffic is diverted onto them.

"I think a light is the only option, and we'll have to learn to live with it," Stinnett said. "We aren't the country anymore."

Roy Thompson, who lives on Brickhouse, said he uses the intersection daily. He asked commissioners to request a longer delay from the highway administration to get more public input on the project.

He said the state's proposal is a "Band-Aid" approach that "is really going to make the commute worse."

Commissioners agreed to a 90-day trial period but said that the state should consider a traffic light. Starkloff said the closure of the left-turn lanes from Route 4 to Brickhouse would probably occur in the next two weeks.