Anne Arundel and Howard counties are working to avert the road congestion that could encumber the area when thousands of jobs are relocated to Fort Meade.
“It?s just a fact of life that this area is going to become more congested. We are trying to ease the pain,” said Carl Balser, transportation chief for the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning.
Anne Arundel and Howard are looking to improve roads, buses and Metro lines in time for the nearly 5,500 jobs expected by 2011, as part of the federal government?s Base Realignment and Closure measure.
The roads linking the fort to both counties ? Routes 198, 175 and 32 ? will be scrutinized and may be improved to prepare for the expansion, said Pam Rau, chairwoman of the Anne Arundel County/ Fort Meade Growth Management Committee.
“One of our top priorities is Route 175. We are trying to have it accommodate more traffic,” said Pam Jordan, Anne Arundel County land use spokeswoman.
Officials are using BRAC as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with Fort Meade for shared use of a new bus facility, said Kent Menser, director of Howard County?s Fort George G. Meade Expansion Management Task Force.
The facility could be built on 16 acres the fort owns at routes 198 and 32, and would be used for maintenance, a transfer station and a kiss and ride. The state also budgeted $1 million this year to study extending the Metro?s Green Line to Fort Meade, Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, or Columbia.
Public meeting
» What: Public meeting with Howard County?s Fort George G. Meade Expansion Management Task Force
» When: 7 p.m. Aug. 23
» Where: Tyson Room of the George Howard Building on Court House Drive in Ellicott City
