Baltimore County officials are expected to turn on a new traffic signal at a busy intersection at the Hunt Valley Towne Centre on Friday near the Wegmans grocery store.
County Executive Jim Smith will power the signal during a brief ceremony on the southeast corner of the McCormick Road and International Circle intersection, the site of heavy traffic since the shopping center opened in September.
The county chipped in $50,000 to pay for the light?s installation; center development firm Greenberg Commercial Corp. funded the $100,000 project?s other half.
“Greenberg Corp. recognized the need to manage increased traffic at this intersection,” Smith said in a statement. “This is the kind of private-public partnership which is helping transform Baltimore County ? benefiting both businesses and citizens.”
Just how many accidents and fender-benders have occurred at the intersection since September is unclear, but the county?s Bureau of Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning studied car volume after receiving complaints from residents, said Greg Carski, chief of the bureau?s design team.
“Once it [the center] was redone, a lot more traffic is coming in there and the signal is now warranted,” Carski said. “In this case, it was based on traffic volumes.”
The bureau studies signalized intersections in the county each year and rates their performance.
This year, the County Council adopted a list of eight intersections rated as failures, and traffic experts will adjust signal timings and plan new or expanded traffic lanes at those sites.
