Residents along Baltimore County’s old, windy, narrow — and increasingly used — rural roads are urging lawmakers to approve guidelines before starting widening projects.
Members of the County Council heard testimony last week on a proposed set of guidelines for sight distances, lighting, bicycle lanes, landscaping and other details for road expansion. Residents of northern Baltimore County told lawmakers the report, already approved by the county’s planning board, is a “reasonable compromise.”
“Most of our roads are short and wide — less than four miles long and maybe a lane and a half wide,” said Wayne McGinnis, a north county farmer and planning board member who worked on the guidelines. “If widened more than necessary, it increases traffic and speed. Both of these cause safety problems for animals, for farming equipment and residents that live in the area.”
Kathleen Pontone, an attorney representing the Valleys Planning Council, said the rural preservation group hired a bridge and engineering consultant in 2004 to study recommendations for improvements.
At the public hearing, Pontone said she welcomed the proposed guidelines, particularly one that allows traffic-calming devices, which are not currently permitted on rural roads.
“There are a lot of things to commend in the report,” Pontone said. “No one is completely happy, which is a good sign negotiations worked.”
Kathleen House, a member of an association representing Hunt Valley’s Cuba Road, called the stretch “scary.”
“And I think it’s representative of a lot of old roads,” House added. “We really welcome these standards.”
Lawmakers did not vote on the report, nor is a vote scheduled.
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