My RANT for the intersection of Chancellors Run Road and 235

[Danzig]

When you are on Chancellors Run Road heading toward 235 IT IS LEAGL TO MAKE A U TURN back down Chancellors Run Road. People driving SOUTH that are turning on to Chancellors Run Road have a YIELD sign and are suppose to stop for people making U turns. Also if you do turn down Chancellors Run Road from 235 it is NOT legal to stop in the frickin middle of the road to make the U turn back toward 235, go up to the firehouse and turn around in the parking lot.

I talked to the state highway inspectors MANY MANY times about this intersection and was told the reason they don’t put up a sign saying you CAN make a U turn is cause they don’t want people to make U turns cause it is unsafe. I asked why they don’t just put a NO U turn sign up and was told that the lawyer that owns Hickory Hills shopping center has documents from the state that say they will never take away his entrance from Chancellors Run Road and if they do he has grounds to sue them (and he will win) so by allowing the U turn he can’t sue them.

So what are your views on this

Do you make U turns there?

What should be done?

 

[claire]

It's a dangerous road and I avoid it.

 

[CMC122]

I do not make U turns here but I have been caught off guard by a U turner because there is no way to tell if someone is making a U turn until they are almost coming at you. I do make a bigger effort now to check the cars already on Chancellors Run before I proceed. It ####es the guy off behind me but they get over it.

 

[Tonio]

I agree that's a dangerous intersection, although putting up the cement barrier between Sheetz and the shopping center helped decrease the worst of it.

Until recently, many people were using the shopping center parking lot as a de facto right turn from southbound 235 onto Chancellor's.

When you are on Chancellors Run Road heading toward 235 IT IS LEAGL TO MAKE A U TURN back down Chancellors Run Road.

Danzig, where is that U-turn spot? Is it the one near the church as you're going north? Are there a lot of drivers who need to make that U-turn?

Here's what I don't understand--for a while, many people leaving the base from Gate 1 would go down Pegg Road and go back up Chancellor's. Seemed like a waste of time to me, since that can't be any quicker than going straight up 235.

 

[TWL]

Originally posted by Danzig

I talked to the state highway inspectors MANY MANY times about this intersection and was told the reason they don’t put up a sign saying you CAN make a U turn is cause they don’t want people to make U turns cause it is unsafe. I asked why they don’t just put a NO U turn sign up and was told that the lawyer that owns Hickory Hills shopping center has documents from the state that say they will never take away his entrance from Chancellors Run Road and if they do he has grounds to sue them (and he will win) so by allowing the U turn he can’t sue them.

So what are your views on this

Do you make U turns there?

What should be done?

Thats's BS. There still is an entrance to the Hickory Hills Shopping Center from Chancelors Run Rd. if you make the intersection a no u-turn intersection.

An alternative fix would remove the yeild sign on 235 S at Chancelors Run and put a stop sign....or possibly a right turn light. I don't recall the law on turning on a right turn red light but I believe, unless there is a sign preventing it, you can proceed after stopping.

 

[Warron]

Originally posted by Tonio
Here's what I don't understand--for a while, many people leaving the base from Gate 1 would go down Pegg Road and go back up Chancellor's. Seemed like a waste of time to me, since that can't be any quicker than going straight up 235.

I go up Pegg Road and down chancellor's run every day. No red lights makes it a 5 minute trip. But then, I live in Hickory hills and don't have to make the left at sheetz. The few times I have come up 235, it has taken 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how lucky I get with all the lights.

As for the U turn at the chancelor's run/235 intersection. I have done that many times a well. Especially now that I can not take a left coming out of sheetz onto chancellor's run. The only other option is going all the way to the walmart light or san suci light and make a U turn, which turns one left turn into two. I don't really see what the big problem is. There is more then enough space between the end of the divider and where the right lane merge ends to see if someone is coming. I do agree that making a U turn at the other end of the divider (up toward the church) is illegal and stupid. A no U turn sign should be placed there to stop the excuses.

I have a much bigger problem with the entrance to sheetz off 235. People cut into that entrance immediately after the red light, right into the merge path of people turning right from chancellor's run onto 235. I've seen several accidents there already.

Then I could always go on about the left turn out of hickory hills onto chancellor's run. Nothing like a good left turn there to give your heart a workout.

 

[Danzig]

Re: Re: My RANT for the intersection of Chancellors Run Road and 235

Originally posted by TWL
Thats's BS. There still is an entrance to the Hickory Hills Shopping Center from Chancellors Run Rd. if you make the intersection a no u-turn intersection.

An alternative fix would remove the yield sign on 235 S at Chancellors Run and put a stop sign....or possibly a right turn light. I don't recall the law on turning on a right turn red light but I believe, unless there is a sign preventing it, you can proceed after stopping.

I believe it was stated in letter that it his entrance had to be assessable from Chancellors Run from either direction, and a U turn does that in a half azz way.

I would think a stop light that is only red when traffic comes onto Chancellors from 235 going north, when U turn traffic is possible, and when traffic is coming from straight across from Chancellors. But they won't cause it would prove they messed up. I guess things will get straightened out when someone gets killed or seriously injured and sues the state.......AND WINS.

 

[Tonio]

Originally posted by Warron
I have a much bigger problem with the entrance to sheetz off 235. People cut into that entrance immediately after the red light, right into the merge path of people turning right from chancellor's run onto 235. I've seen several accidents there already.

Good point. That's why I avoid that Sheetz when I'm going south on 235. I use that Sheetz only when I'm going north on Chancellor's. Going south on 235, I gas up at the Wawa at the 5 intersection in Mechanicsville.

 

[Aimhigh2000]

Big Roads

I say it is finally time to put in an expressway and overpasses from Hughesville to the Base. I mean, shoot, people already drive like 65-70 MPH, and in some places the speed limit is only 40mph. Get rid of the lights and build overpasses. That will fix a lot of it.

 

[crabcake]

Re: Big Roads

Originally posted by Aimhigh2000
I say it is finally time to put in an expressway and overpasses from Hughesville to the Base. I mean, shoot, people already drive like 65-70 MPH, and in some places the speed limit is only 40mph. Get rid of the lights and build overpasses. That will fix a lot of it.

we don't need one all the way between h-ville and the park ... we need one to bypass h-ville and waldorf. the park needs access roads and the businesses will just need to cough up the space ...

a bypass in the park? what are you gonna do, have a double-decker highway? :shrug:

 

[Aimhigh2000]

No, an expressway

Kinda like they did up by Andrews. You have the local lanes, but no lights on the main road. Build FDR along the side, and have exits for the business districts. It would then join the H-ville by pass, I guess in 2050 when that gets built. And then maybe the Waldorf bypass in 2060. Ok, I am being a smart a** now. But really. Why not just build FDR, and make 235 a direct expressway that ends at the base? It could work. They did it in Clinton.

 

[crabcake]

Re: No, an expressway

Originally posted by Aimhigh2000
Kinda like they did up by Andrews. You have the local lanes, but no lights on the main road. Build FDR along the side, and have exits for the business districts. It would then join the H-ville by pass, I guess in 2050 when that gets built. And then maybe the Waldorf bypass in 2060. Ok, I am being a smart a** now. But really. Why not just build FDR, and make 235 a direct expressway that ends at the base? It could work. They did it in Clinton.

they had room in clinton ... where would you put it down there? there's the main road running N/S (235) and other streets running against it. :shrug: thus my double decker suggestion. there's no room for a bypass down there ...

 

[Aimhigh2000]

Double Decks

Well, I was avoiding that cuz lord knows the locals (even my mum) would protest roads in the sky. But, if you are planning for the next 30 years, then an expressway makes perfect sense. and there is plenty of land on both sides. If we would stop building strip malls for a minute, and really, all they need to do is "build up" at the intersections to make the overpasses. You wouldn't have to raise the entire road. Only where needed. But I would still build FDR, no matter how much land they have to take or buy out.

 

[Ken King]

Re: No, an expressway

Originally posted by Aimhigh2000
Kinda like they did up by Andrews. You have the local lanes, but no lights on the main road. Build FDR along the side, and have exits for the business districts. It would then join the H-ville by pass, I guess in 2050 when that gets built. And then maybe the Waldorf bypass in 2060. Ok, I am being a smart a** now. But really. Why not just build FDR, and make 235 a direct expressway that ends at the base? It could work. They did it in Clinton.

If you are planning for anything that far into the future shouldn’t we just beam people to where we want them?

As has been said, the space down here is very limited. How about this, why not put in a light rail or elevated monorail system? You could run three loops to cover the county and connect with others. A Hughesville-Charlotte Hall/Leonardtown-Hollywood loop, a Leonardtown-Hollywood/Great Mills-Lexington Park loop, and the Great Mills-Lexington Park to Ridge-Point Look Out loop. Throw in a connector from Hughesville to Waldorf and bring METRO to Waldorf and the city would be available with only driving a couple of miles. Less driving, less gas, less polution, and less stress from the commute.

What would this cost? Don’t know, but you would think it would probably be close to any expressway concept when initial costs are factored in along with maintenance, vehicle fuel costs, and congestion with all the new connector roads that are sure to follow.

 

[Penn]

:shrug: Wasn't there, at one time, talk of putting a road from Old Rolling Rd, behind the KMart all the way through to Chancellors Run Rd?
From my observations, a lot of the traffic seems to emanate along that stretch of highway. So, wouldn't creating a secondary parallel road behind RTE 235 relieve some of the problem?

It could dump out traffic right behind Hickory Hills, I think.

 

[SmallTown]

The double decker highways work great out west, until there is an earthquake. The ones in Pittsburgh do pretty well.

But for somd... The drivers next to me scared me enough, would hate to think what the people above me were going to do as well.

 

[SmallTown]

Originally posted by penncam
:shrug: Wasn't there, at one time, talk of putting a road from Old Rolling Rd, behind the KMart all the way through to Chancellors Run Rd?
From my observations, a lot of the traffic seems to emanate along that stretch of highway. So, wouldn't creating a secondary parallel road behind RTE 235 relieve some of the problem?

It could dump out traffic right behind Hickory Hills, I think.

At one point the plan was to have the road go right through hickory hills. Needless to say, the residents there had a sh!t fit.

 

[RoseRed]

Originally posted by SmallTown
The double decker highways work great out west, until there is an earthquake.

Remember the Nimitz in '89.

 

[Penn]

Originally posted by SmallTown
At one point the plan was to have the road go right through hickory hills. Needless to say, the residents there had a sh!t fit.

I suppose in a way, I could see the concern from the folks at the Hickory Hills community, having a $h!tload of traffic barreling through their streets exiting onto Chancellors Run.
But there is a firebreak about a 1/4th of a mile up the road towards Great Mills that maybe a road could be fashioned through there , I think.
That area has been cleared of major trees and stumps and goes all the way through to Old Rolling Rd.

Make a road out of it.

If it's a county concern for fire fighting, the trucks could fight it from the shoulders of the new road. What is so frikken difficult about that?

I've lived off Chancellors Run for 14 years now, and have yet to see any fire hazard, or fireblazes along that area.

 

[darkriver4362]

Take Rt. 5 from the beltway all the way down to Lexington Park, freeway style. Have it split in Waldorf, one way contuing as a 4 lane expressway past La Plata, and the other direction with the same amount of lanes going to Lexington Park. Get rid of all of those nazi ass traffic lights, replace the crucial ones with exits...i.e. Exit 5: 231 Prince Frederick.....Exit 16: Mechanicsville....In Charles county, A few exits for La Plata, St. Charles, Pinefield, etc....

Something is going to have to be done, you just cannot fit the amount of people down here on the road with continuious stoplights ever 1.5 miles. Just spend the money now and do it, before they have to spend billions to buy land at fair market value that buildings are sitting on...

Speaking of all this they are putting up a new F'in' light in La Plata