Another Waste!

[TPD]

I bet I have seen less than 6 people in the last 5 years cross 235 at gate 2. Who the hell is walking off base down GMR to have lunch at Taco Bell?! But I guess civil servants are asking for these crosswalks.

St. Mary’s County’s Departments of Economic Development and Public Works and Transportation collaborated with the Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NAS PAX) to submit the application to build a signalized crosswalk across Three Notch Road at Gate 2. The $395,118 grant award will fund most of the $564,454 project.

DCIP is designed to address deficiencies in community infrastructure, supportive of a military installation, to enhance military value, installation resilience, and military family quality of life. The County crosswalk project will also include a sidewalk extension linking Gate 2 to the existing sidewalk and crosswalk at Gate 1. This infrastructure improvement will allow pedestrians and cyclists to safely cross the six lane Three Notch Road and travel the one-mile distance between Gate 1 and Gate 2. Currently, Three Notch Road’s design and heavy traffic volumes do not allow for bike lanes and force bicyclists to use the sidewalks. These interlinked improvements will allow safe bike and pedestrian access to the base and for base personnel to reach the Lexington Park commercial district to access local restaurants, services, and other businesses.

https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/...98118-for-signalized-crosswalk-at-gate-2.html

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

If there's federal money involved in the project then it's required to have bike lanes and sidewalks as well as accessible crosswalks. If those aren't incorporated in the design then no money.

There's a big push to make things "walkable" from both the feds and the state. That's where it came from. The state also encourages lowering parking requirements so less people drive and instead take mass transit.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I've seen a quite few GMR type people do it about 4PM.

 

[sunshine98]

$400K for a crosswalk???!!! Aren't there greater community needs?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Occasionally I'll see someone pushing a baby carriage across 235 down from Walmart or Target and cringe.

 

[Tech]

$400K for a crosswalk???!!! Aren't there greater community needs?

Could probably put a couple of these for under 10G.

 

[DoWhat]

Could probably put a couple of these for under 10G.

View attachment 159505

And not even stop traffic.

 

[rio]

Could probably put a couple of these for under 10G.

View attachment 159505

Don't forget another 10G for "Low Flying People" signs. But still, way cheaper.

 

[black dog]

Occasionally I'll see someone pushing a baby carriage across 235 down from Walmart or Target and cringe.

I've seen that, one had a bumper sticker on it.
"My Mom is a Honor Roll Student at Great Mills High School.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

$400K for a crosswalk???!!! Aren't there greater community needs?

I finally read the description. I'm surprised it's not more than $400K. Just signalizing an intersection with a minimum of any other site work starts at $250K and goes up from there.

To get federal highway safety money you have to have a minimum of two light standards for each direction, that's the $250K for a simple intersection. This one will likely add pedestrian signals as well as turn lane lights and the programming for those.

Maybe the $400K is the County match. If so, you're looking at probably a $1M project.

 

[Tech]

Don't forget another 10G for "Low Flying People" signs. But still, way cheaper.

Might get some money for STEM. Real life experience with physics.

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

$400K for a crosswalk???!!! Aren't there greater community needs?

Nope. The county commissioners and the planners couldn't find anything else that needs a fixing. Everything is alrighty and A-Okay in St. Mary's County.