Harford Lutheran School Traffic Issues

Other schools, similar to the HLS, in Harford County are located on much larger roads than Whitaker Mill Road (Rts. 543, 22, 924, 152, and 165). All of these roads have easy access, and relatively benign local driving conditions.  These roads, for the novice driver, are all much safer than Whitaker Mill Road, which along its entire length, is characterized by narrow lanes without shoulders, limited sight distances, blind driveways, and sharp curves – all potential crash locations.  Driving on Whitaker Mill Road is manageable for the local residents who are familiar with the road, and for experienced drivers passing through.  However, it would be a dangerous road for a large number of commuting teenage drivers, who according to Harford County Highway Safety Committee Statistics, have the highest accident rates of any age-group in Harford County.  Whitaker Mill Road is also frequently used by bicyclists and joggers, and occasionally by pedestrians, including residents picking up litter thrown from cars.  Clearly pedestrian safety would also be a problem.

I, personally, have logged many miles running on Whitaker Mill Road, and one of the worst sections is the half mile from Millwood to Millstad (not the quarter mile stated by one of the parents. This would be important if a student did decide to walk to school from there.) and the few times I have been forced to leave the road involved encounters with cars with young drivers.

and, I am really surprised that the school itself hasn't given this any consideration. On the one hand,

It is their young drivers being put at risk and concomitantly, the residents of Whitaker Mill Road

We have the right to maintain the rural nature of our community and, we want county officials to understand that we do not want Whitaker Mill Road to undergo major alterations to serve the purposes of an unwanted development

Its current status is not a problem for the Whitaker Mill Road residents nor for experienced drivers passing through, and we have the right to maintain the rural nature of our community. Making the road safe for teenagers, if that were even possible, would of necessity destroy the very nature of the community we wish to protect

1. Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Safety Action Plan, April 14, 2000

2. Harford County Zoning code, Section § 267-9. Board of Appeals.

[Amended by Bill Nos. 82-54; 83-56] under section I. Limitations, guides and standards

3. Harford County Highway Safety Committee Statistics

4. Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database

The Roundabout Question

The applicant's expert witnesses have also presented the concept of a roundabout in a positive light.  However, roundabouts are traffic control devices that are only used to mitigate existing traffic problems.  In the current status there are no traffic problems.  If the roundabout were in place, even with the current traffic, it would represent a potential congestion point when traffic becomes heavy.  Anyone who observed the gridlock at the Tollgate roundabout during the holiday rush will understand this.  At the peak of the projected school traffic, the roundabout would favor the school traffic over the normal traffic coming from the south and create a backup all the way to the blind 90-degree bend one tenth of a mile south of the entrance.  This would create a crash prone location.  When one also considers the fact that emergency vehicles cannot use the one-lane bridge at the intersection of Ring Factory and Whitaker Mill Roads, a traffic lock-up at the Millstad entrance could create a disaster.  The effect of the roundabout would be a severe negative impact on traffic safety.  An technical analysis of the roundabout is given on our Roundabout Analysis page.

The county should not ignore these safety issues.  The Harford County Zoning code, states that "the Board shall not approve an application if it finds that the proposed [use ... would] result in dangerous traffic conditions or jeopardize the lives ... of people living in the neighborhood".  We are really surprised that the school itself hasn't given the traffic issues, raised by the residents of the Millwood and Woodbridge developments, and along Whitaker Mill Road, any consideration. It is their young drivers being put at risk (We think it would be unconscionable to subject them to this environment.), as well as the residents of the Whitaker Mill Road community.

It is clear that this request for a special exception should be rejected on the basis of traffic safety alone. However, when one considers the other issues, there is no question of the inappropriate nature of the Millstad site for such a school location.

References

1. Anderson, I. Martin, K. W.; Traffic flow improvements at Newbridge Roundabout; Seventh International Conference on Road Traffic Monitoring and Control, 1994.;Meeting Date: 04/26/1994 - 04/28/1994
Location: London, UK "The Newbridge Roundabout in Scotland has been a notorious congestion point on the primary network for at least 10 years [1], particularly during peak periods." The solution to the problem was the installation of traffic signal controls.

2. Boone, Jonathan L; Hummer, Joseph E
Calibrating and validating traffic simulation models for unconventional arterial intersection designs
Transportation Research Record , no. 1500, pp. 184-192. 1995
3. Chung, Edward; Young, William; Akcelik, Rahmi; Comparison of roundabout capacity and delay estimates from analytical and simulation models
16th ARRB Conference; Perth; Aust; 09-12 Nov. 1992.