A beleaguered stretch of U.S. Route 1 in College Park is just a formality away from receiving millions of dollars to improve traffic and make the busy stretch of road more pedestrian-friendly. The Maryland State Highway Administration has secured $8.8 million to fund designs for a 1.4-mile stretch of Baltimore Avenue near the University of Maryland College Park, according to local officials.
The project still must gain approval from the regional Transportation Planning Board meeting Wednesday.
But the funds already were approved by a board steering committee, and will likely move forward with no objections, according to Ronald Kirby, director of transportation planning at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
Securing the funds is a long-awaited victory for College Park city officials and Prince George’s County Council Vice Chairman Eric Olson, who finalized a plan to improve Baltimore Avenue in 2005 and have been planning changes to the road since 1998.
“We’ve been fighting for funding for a long time, so it’s great to finally get the engineering phase underway,” Olson said. “It’s just the first step, but this will really improve the safety of the roadway.”
The funds are for the first of three phases of reconstructing Route 1.
The first phase will transform the road between Campus Drive, at the main gate to the University of Maryland, and University Boulevard.
College Park planning director Terry Schum said the road and sidewalks will be rebuilt, with landscaping to create a buffer between pedestrians and the road.
The dual left-turn lane in the middle of the road — a lane Schum referred to as the “suicide lane” — also will be eliminated.
Since new developments have materialized along Route 1 since plans were finalized six years ago — College Park boasts three new student housing options complete with first-floor commercial space — Schum wants to take a close at each aspect of the plan to ensure that the road will suit the needs of new businesses and residents.
Officials are still looking for funding to begin construction once the designs for the road are complete.
Construction costs for the first phase of Route 1 are an estimated $60 million, according to David Buck, spokesman for the State Highway Administration. Overall, fixing all of Route 1 in College Park could cost as much as $150 million, he said.
