Complete failure @ Wildewood & Rt 4 light

[somdforever]

The traffic coming off WW Blvd...

They screwed that one up. Use to be that if no traffic was coming southbound, and vehicles were in the left turn lane, the signal would flip to allow left turns (NB 235)
Now you have to wait an eternity for the light to do a complete cycle - even when there is no traffic on Wildewood Blvd.

has/had nothing to do with the light cycle there. It was changed to a longer cycle after the crash there that involved a Chaney truck. Under the old cycle, a fully loaded mixer barely had time to clear the intersection before the light cycled back to red.

 

[somdforever]

Yes, the "elite" citizens of WW! The ones who pay the same rate of taxes as the rest of the people in St. Mary's. The ones who have to put up with the idiots (residents and non-residents alike) who think WW Pkwy is their own private drag strip. The ones who were trapped in their homes and school during a massive gas leak because there was only one egress point. The ones who played Russian roulette everytime they wanted to make even a right turn south onto St. Andrew's from WW Pkwy. Or, the ones who now have state/county sponsored community group homes in their neighborhoods. If that is what makes someone an elitist, than I guess we're all guilty!!

 

[somdforever]

They failed leadership wasn't in issuing building permits, it was not doing something about the roads before the units were built.
The P in PUD stands for PLANNED. That the original developer didn't build to the density he was allowed is no excuse. When Wildewood was approved, decades ago, they knew what the PLANNED number of units was and should have PLANNED accordingly. I'm sure what they did was to take the money then and stuck it into a pet project. Hoping the day the infrastructure was needed, they wouldn't be around.

And you are perfectly right on this one. When the new school was planned, then would have been the perfect opportunity for the county to do something about the roads in here. Although the density in WW was approved long ago, the county can stop issuing new permits until the developer does something about the entire infrastructure needed to accomodate 1400 additional homes. And that includes additional ingress/egress points. Their quick fix to dump traffic onto Lawrence Hayden Road was nothing more than a sham to satisfy some local politicans.

 

[somdforever]

Actually, they have such priority that someone has come up with tons of money to widen and improve the bike/baby/dog/jogging path on WW Parkway. Construction began last week.

They could widen the bike/baby/dog/jogging path another 10 feet and I still would refuse to use it!! Until WW Pkwy is brought up to residential standards, people are putting themselves and their families in danger walking out there. A few "rumble" strips is not going to prevent anything.

 

[BernieP]

And you are perfectly right on this one. When the new school was planned, then would have been the perfect opportunity for the county to do something about the roads in here. Although the density in WW was approved long ago, the county can stop issuing new permits until the developer does something about the entire infrastructure needed to accomodate 1400 additional homes. And that includes additional ingress/egress points. Their quick fix to dump traffic onto Lawrence Hayden Road was nothing more than a sham to satisfy some local politicans.

and I would say most residents of WW are not aware of how to get to the backdoor exit as you have to turn into one of the subdivisions, hand a left and then go through a section under developement - but they did add like 5 largre speed bumps.
What people also see to forget is the traffic to/from the technogoloy park that uses WW parkway (smoke hill rd).
Most of that traffic uses the RT 4
Not sure if the county could hold up the permits on Stanley Martin since those units were approved.
The methods between what they are doing and how Mr. Wettengale went about it are evident.
I'm willing to bet the quality of the homes is different as well.

 

[somdforever]

There is also a Southern Exit to St. Johns road and the industrial park. Why would you make these comments if you don't know what you are talking about?

There is no "southern" exit to St. John's Road! There is a "northern" exit to Lawrence Hayden Road, which will take you to St. John's Road/Airport View Dr./Whiskey Bottom Rd. Just thought you'd like to know this since you seem to know what you are talking about.

 

[somdforever]

I have to admit that the light will make it easier turning into Wildewood coming north on Rt 4 from Leonardtown. I was never really sure who has the right-of-way turning into Wildewood off of Rt 4. I would think that the cars heading south making the right turn from the turn lane would have to yield to the the cars heading north turning left. The idea being for the left turning cars to clear the northbound travel lane as quickly as possible. There is no yield sign in the turning lane though.

Did you miss this question on your driving test, also?

 

[somdforever]

So you agree there are other ways out, just not routes you prefer. Have you done a study about people using Lawrence Hayden? Everyone I know who lives in Wildewood and works in Leonardtown use Lawrence Hayden to get to work.

Must not know too many people then!

 

[somdforever]

and I would say most residents of WW are not aware of how to get to the backdoor exit as you have to turn into one of the subdivisions, hand a left and then go through a section under developement - but they did add like 5 largre speed bumps.
What people also see to forget is the traffic to/from the technogoloy park that uses WW parkway (smoke hill rd).
Most of that traffic uses the RT 4
Not sure if the county could hold up the permits on Stanley Martin since those units were approved.
The methods between what they are doing and how Mr. Wettengale went about it are evident.
I'm willing to bet the quality of the homes is different as well.

Oh, the quality is quite "different" alright. And, having insight from 20 years ago into Mr. Wettengel's vision for WW, is not what I see today. WW is no longer a "community". It is now just another "area of fine homes"! HA!

 

[stgislander]

Did you miss this question on your driving test, also?

I don't remember... it was 1977. And a good morning to you too sunshine!

 

[CrashTest]

They could widen the bike/baby/dog/jogging path another 10 feet and I still would refuse to use it!! Until WW Pkwy is brought up to residential standards, people are putting themselves and their families in danger walking out there. A few "rumble" strips is not going to prevent anything.

I'm sure then that you see the new construction to "improve" the bike/baby/dog/jogging path. The elite WW dogs must have a safe place to crap on WW Parkway. To hell with spending money on FDR Blvd.

 

[Curious99]

As others have pointed out, the decisions were made decades ago. The Leonardtown brainiacs couldn't anticipate the bottlenecks back then since Google Earth had not yet been invented.

Yea, I guess the Leonardtown crowd figured the residents would sprout wings or own teleporters by now.
The initial approvals for WW and Woods at Myrtle Point were made decades ago but the various phases have to be approved by the Planning Commission (a rubber stamp process) and individual permits have to be issued. Opportunities to slow things down. By the way, isn’t there another large development recently approved across from St. Andrews Estates?
There is no political will to hold up development as the whole area to TJ Bridge is part of the Lexington Park Development District. There have been efforts to shrink the size of the LPDD but, during the hearing, large landowners in the area are very much against it.

 

[CrashTest]

There have been efforts to shrink the size of the LPDD but, during the hearing, large landowners in the area are very much against it.

There have been efforts to redirect development. For example, build sidewalks on GMR and businesses will show up. "Field of Dreams" approach to Planning and Zoning.

 

[TWL]

I guess they didn't know there was only 1 way in and 1 way out decades ago. If the "P" in PUD stands for "planned", then I guess they "planned" on chaos.

You sure? What about WW Blvd @ Rt 235, Smoke Hill Rd @ Cottonwood Pkwy/Airport Rd, FDR Blvd @ Rt 235 and Primevere Dr @ Lawrence Hayden Rd? That's 4 more that I count.

 

[CrashTest]

You sure? What about WW Blvd @ Rt 235, Smoke Hill Rd @ Cottonwood Pkwy/Airport Rd, FDR Blvd @ Rt 235 and Primevere Dr @ Lawrence Hayden Rd? That's 4 more that I count.

This has already been covered, but to get to any of those "exits", everyone has to pile onto WW Parkway (along with all the baby strollers, joggers, bikes, skateboarders, and dogs). See post #51.

 

[vinnie]

Light? What light?

I live in Wildewood and I disagree with that light. IMHO they should have closed off that intersection for everything except people turning right to go toward Leonardtown. I don't see this light being a necessity and the residents, like me, that live close to that intersection are only slightly inconvenienced by having to backtrack to Wildewood Blvd.

Thanks bilbur, the voice of reason lives. Would you consider running for Mayor of Wildewood?

 

[CrashTest]

The St. Johns Rd route is new and I've used it. It's unusable due to speed bumps along the way plus the Macadam road surface on Hayden Rd is not really suited for thru traffic...

You are correct Sir. Turns out that a backwoods, Macadam surface road like Lawrence Hayden Rd is not suitable for use as a thoroughfare for traffic in and out of a hood the size of Wildewood but don't worry. If an average Joe-Citizen like you was able to predict this, there's no doubt that the Brainiacs in L-Town, who have access to lots of resources, information, and subject matter experts, would also have been able to predict this and certainly would have had a plan in place all along. In fact, if you look at the pictures, they've already begun to implement their plan. Their plan appears to be for someone to periodically sweep up all the broken pieces of Macadam into a pile on the shoulder of the road. Well done. Keep up the good work.

 

[Peter Forsberg]

God for bid you inconvenience anybody in Wildewood...

 

[CrashTest]

God for bid you inconvenience anybody in Wildewood...

Especially since per square mile, revenue from personal income tax is probably higher in that hood than anywhere else in the county (probably personal property tax also). But that's OK. GMR got new sidewalks.

 

[PrchJrkr]

I've been through this intersection several times since the new signal was installed. I haven't had to stop once for Wildewood traffic.