Construction crews will begin a major makeover on a downtown Towson traffic circle this month, a project business owners say could win back would-be shoppers who dread the high-traffic roundabout.
Officials said Wednesday that they hope to complete new traffic patterns around the circle and reduce York Rod between the roundabout and Towsontown Boulevard by June 18. The changes will add parking on both sides of a three-block section of York Road, slowing traffic and easing pedestrian access to businesses, shops and restaurants, said Nancy Hafford, director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce.
“We can?t stand ourselves, we are so excited,” Hafford said. “At every aspect of this process, we?ve had people from the business and residential communities and the county working together to come up with something for the good of the whole.”
The new patterns are part of Baltimore County?s Walkable Towson initiative, which began in 2006, but will be funded mostly with $50,000 in state funds, said David Fidler, spokesman for the county?s public works department.
Contractors will narrow the roundabout to one lane between southbound York Road and eastbound Joppa Road. The entrance to the circle from Allegheny Avenue and the exit to eastbound Joppa Road will also be narrowed to a single lane.
Not everyone is convinced the improvements will solve all downtown Towson?s traffic problems. County officials suggested making the circle one lane, Fidler said, and the improvements could be modified in the future.
“These things can be put in place and removed easily,” Fidler said. “This is to set it up and see how it goes.”
Mark Counselman of the Tomorrow?s Towson committee, which oversaw the initial project planning, said he worries the changes won?t do enough to improve pedestrian safety across York Road.
“It remains to be seen,” Counselman said. “We hope for the best.”
