In last Friday's Worcester County Times there is an article about the State Highway Administration making plans on putting in a traffic signal on Rt.113 at the new Worcester County Tech Center in Newark.
The county has spent millions on this Tech Center; Worcester County residents are excited to have it, and students are looking forward to attending classes within it's walls.
The article focused on Commissioner Virgil Shockely and his feelings on the matter and what he believed his constituents would think about it.
He like I am and many others in Worcester County are deeply concerned and confused on why and how the state can pay for a signaled intersection at the school yet not have a signal at the intersection at Rt113 and Rt12.
The Rt. 12 intersection has had numerous accidents over the years and 13 people have died while dodging traffic there.
Last year a Worcester County woman name Linda Vreehland, collected close to 1000 signatures on a petition to have a signal installed at the Rt.12, and submitted them to the SHA during a meeting where they told the public that a traffic light would be dangerous there, but instead we needed a clover leaf to eliminate the problems....but the cloverleaf will cost millions of dollars, and, they don't have it.
So, Worcester County cant' have what it wants, because they said it is not a good place to have a signal. In fact in a letter that I received from them last year when I responded to this issue I was told that a signal would actually cause more accidents, than it would prevent.
Now, we are being told that the Rt.12 intersection doesn't even compare in the amount of traffic that the new Tech Center will have and they could not justify it.
Yet the Tech Center is in the middle of the biggest curves in the road from both directions but a traffic signal there is somehow appropriate and won't cause more accidents.
They are saying of course it is because of the School Buses coming in and out of the property, and for safety reasons they must have it.
For those of you aren't familiar with the area; the entrance to the Landfill is directly next to entrance of the Tech Center and Donnie Drewyer of the SHA says that the planned intersection doesn't include this road as well. So now we will have school buses using an intersection and right next to it the trucks traveling in and out of the landfill all day will fend for themselves right next to the signal Needless to say this brings up more confusion, as well feelings that this is more poor planning coming to fruition.
The people of Worcester County want to cross Rt.12 safely with a traffic light no matter what the SHA says, and the people of Worcester County also want their children to be able to get to and from the new Tech Center in a safe manner.
It is not either or, it is when.
In order to successfully join the two ends of the county, physically, and financially, we must make a safe way of travel to and from the north to the south and we should not delay the matter any longer.
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9 comments:
Wymzie, Now what about the dual highway being built?That will compond this situation even more on thar cure.Gonna be interesting.
The State Highway Administration isn't full of it. Virgil Shockely is full of it.
The folks that use that intersection need to learn how to properly use it. There a dozens of roads that intersect with the higher traffic volume MD US-50 between Queenstown and Salisbury that have similar volumes of traffic compared to MD-12. Yet there is no uproar for traffic signals at those intersection.
There is no need for a traffic signal at MD-12 and MD US-113. The volume of traffic on both roads doesn't justify it.
Sand Box John
Sand Box John,
There are no doubt other intersections in our state that have higher volumes of traffic. However, the Rt.12 and 113 intersection has seen 13 deaths in the last 15 years.
Speculation on why has been subject of much debate. But I ask the question..."How many lives must be sacrificed to the Highway Gods in order to qualify for a stop light"?
Additionally, Donnie Drewyer in one meeting said that there is not enough volume to justify a light, and in another meeting says that a light would make the intersection more dangerous than it is now.
Which is the truth?
They say what they say to fit the needs of the moment.
Anon8:30, Are they actually going to finish it? All construction has stopped and with budget cuts who knows when it will be completed?
Your right it will only compound the problem. If they install it now, and then come back and dualize the road it will end up costing us more for redundant efforts.
Where did you get your engineering degree Wymzie?
i would quess, " the school of sensibilty",
Sand Box John:
Maybe you should send your family to cross this intersection every day since you don't think there is need for improvements there. It is easy to criticize until you lose someone at that death trap.
wymzie said...
"Additionally, Donnie Drewyer in one meeting said that there is not enough volume to justify a light, and in another meeting says that a light would make the intersection more dangerous than it is now.
Which is the truth?"
Maybe both statements are true. Common sense tells me that when a traffic signal or stop sign is installed, the likelyhood of rear end collisions increases. If the signal is not warranted, and is installed, and a crash occurs at that unwarranted signal that would otherwise not have happened, who is going to absorb the lawsuit? The people that are pushing for the signal and insist it is needed? No, the state highway hence the taxpayers will be paying it. There are standards to be followed for a reason. I am sure with all the uproar that if a signal was warranted, it would be installed. How many crashes have occurred at that intersection that would be succeptible to correction by a signal? How many crashes have occurred since the intersection was reconfigured? I am just curious if anyone happens to have those numbers. I have personally made a point to visit this intersection and honestly do not feel it is that bad. Yes it requires the drivers to make decisions, but it is not anything out of the ordinary. The 13 fatalities that were mentioned, can all those be attributed to the lack of a signal? How many was alcohol a factor? Maybe you have already looked into these things, but at some point, we are going to have to take responsibility for our own actions and stop trying to place blame.
I for one do not believe that installing a traffic signal is the answer to all problems --- just ask any towing service what is good for business and they will tell you that a new traffic light is great for their business!
We have too many traffic lights around already.
I have been through that intersection many times, and have not felt that it was particularly dangerous -- good common sense dictates it can be traversed safely.
As others have pointed out, there are numerous other similar intersections on Routes 50, 13, and 113 that don't need traffic lights.
xploded and wymzie,
I used that intersection daily for six months at all times of the day traveling between Salisbury and Stockton shortly after it opened. I never had any problems crossing the intersection. The only time I had problems was when fools blocked the intersection preventing those that had the right of way from making left turns off MD-113.
Like I said in my previous post, "The folks that use that intersection need to learn how to properly use it."
When using the intersection and other like it, proceed across all lanes of the intersection in one motion when traffic is clear. Treat the intersection as if it were an undivided road.
When making a left turn from the divided highway, yield the right of way to the oncoming traffic from the left turn lane as if you were waiting in a left turn lane controlled by an arrow signal.
Under no circumstance should a driver stop in the middle of the of the intersections.
Ignore all that useless and confusing signs and stripping that SHA put in the intersection to placate Virgil Shockely and others.
Sand Box John
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