Susan Smith is no fan of traffic signals, but she’d like to see one at the recently opened intersection of Montgomery and New Cut roads, in Ellicott City.

“There are horns honking all the time and people are constantly hitting their brakes,” said Smith, whose yard backs up to Montgomery Road and the nearby Brampton Parkway.

Two weeks ago, on June 5, she was in her kitchen when she heard a noise outside. When she went out to investigate, she found that a driver making a left turn from southbound Montgomery had been hit by a vehicle traveling northbound on Montgomery.
 
The driver, identified by county police as 21-year-old Young Kyu Lee, of Pikesville, was taken to Howard County General Hospital. He was treated and released in the same day, according to hospital spokeswoman Sharon Sopp.
 
“My first concern is safety, and if a traffic light would make the intersection safer, then one should be installed,” Smith said.

Smith is not alone. Homeowners near the intersection have been relentless in the past few weeks in their efforts to alert public officials about what they feel is a dangerous intersection, e-mailing county and state officials and even writing Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Completed in May, the extended and realigned New Cut Road now connects to Brampton Parkway, directly across from Montgomery Road (Route 103). The realignment was a shared capital project between the county and Glen Mar United Methodist Church, which recently relocated to the corner of New Cut and Montgomery.

The project was designed to improve the existing substandard road by correcting the alignment and sight distance for both roads, according to project manager Thomas Auyeung, with the county Department of Public Works.
 
However, both the church and local residents were expecting a traffic signal to be installed.

“We were quite concerned, along with all of our neighbors about the intersection, so our engineer, who designed the road, designed it with the understanding that there would be a signal installed there,” the Rev. Al Hammer of Glen Mar Church said.
“Some people have been saying that they feel like someone would have to die for the state to install a traffic signal, which is just horrible and no one wants it to come to that,” Hammer said.

Local residents say they are particularly worried about drivers who have to turn left out of Brampton Parkway or New Cut Road to get onto the oft-busy Montgomery Road.

SHA reconsiders light

The State Highway Administration, which has jurisdiction over Montgomery Road, has rejected the idea of a traffic signal once. The state conducted a traffic study of the new intersection and determined that the traffic volume was not high enough to warrant a traffic signal, according to SHA spokeswoman Kellie Boulware.

At the request of worried neighbors, however, the state is re-evaluating the intersection, Boulware said. She said that for the intersection to warrant a traffic signal, it must have high traffic volume, as determined by the number of cars using the road on a daily basis.
 
The state also considers roadway design, crash history and environmental factors such as the proximity of schools to the area and the frequency of trucks driving on the road, she said.
 
The results of that traffic study should be known by the end of June or early July, according to Boulware.

A history of accidents

That stretch of Montgomery Road has a history of accidents.

On March 5, 2007, two Ellicott City residents, Dr. Allan Theodore Leffler, 66, and Christopher Charles McCullough, 21, died when their vehicles collided at the intersection of Montgomery and Chatsworth Way, just north of the new intersection. Neighbors also say there was another accident more recently, although county police have no record of it.

Arnold Belasco, who lives in the Montgomery Meadows neighborhood, a half-mile from the new intersection, said the latest accidents “are just adding to our concerns. We don’t want to lose anyone else.”
 
Belasco said he has written the governor asking for help, and was told a study already had determined a traffic signal was not warranted. “The governor’s office is aware of the issue at the intersection but decided not to react,” he said.

He also expressed frustration with the state because they did not factor in safety concerns when conducting the last traffic study.
“Any human being can look and see how dangerous it is,” Belasco said.

Joy Gajewski, who lives on Yorkshire Drive off of Brampton Parkway, said the new intersection poses a special problem when services at Glen Mar Methodist end on Sunday. She said scores of cars line up to make a left turn out of New Cut Road onto Montgomery Road.
 
“It’s just impossible,” she said, adding that many drivers give up. “People will turn right and make a U-turn farther down so they can avoid the left turn, just adding to the mess.”

Department of Public Works Director James Irvin said he was confident a signal would eventually be installed, but traffic will have to warrant it.

“It’s just a question of time as to when they’ll put one up,” he said.

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user comments (4)

user says...

The neighborhood on new cut is continuing to grow. The dog park on New Cut is rapidly growing in popularity. In the summer New Cut road sees thousands of motorcycle enthusiast cruising up and down its sharp curves. It seams no one is taking growth in to account.

Posted 3:53 PM, 06.17.09 | Permalink

user julia says...

We live in Montgomery Meadows as well and use New Cut to get into Old Ellicott City, we tried to pull out of New Cut left onto Montgomery Rd. on Sunday, and it was ridiculously difficult, we waited at least 5 minutes and then I had to punch it just to avoid getting hit by a car traveling close to 45 mph. That intersection is dangerous, and someone who doesn't have quick reflexes is going to get hit.

Posted 9:59 PM, 06.17.09 | Permalink

user says...

We live on Red Hill Way and have noticed that the traffic on our street has increased during various times of the day/week. This is due to people wanting to avoid being that first fatality that most believed is a government requirement to improve the obvious need for safety at this intersection. It is amazing that anyone should think that a study would have been complete prior to the road having been opened. The fact is that if anyone from Brampton Parkway or New Cut Rd wishes to go straight across Montgomery Rd has six lanes to cross over. Montgomery Rd at this point has both the north and south bound lanes and each has a right turn and left turn lane. There have been accidents there already at this intersection since its opening last month. This is true whether or not the Police kept a record or not. It seems that there is confusion as to who has the right away when going straight from either Brampton Pkwy or New Cut. This isn’t a four way stop. So does the person who arrives first have first choice? I believe the right goes to the person who would be going straight. This would be over the person turning if he arrived first. Of course this could be debated since both persons are leaving one road and entering another. It is difficult to even say who arrived first when all who use this intersection are paying most attention to the fast paced cars on Montgomery Rd. Either way the only true solution to make everyone happy is to install the traffic light to make the intersection safe. If the county or state can afford the cost to operate a flashing light that indicates the safety hazard of a traffic light ahead (For the intersection of Wheatfield/Stonecrest) it would seem then they could afford a light where one does not exist. This flashing light can be seen from the intersection with only a stop sign and six lanes to cross that lead to several communities. This does not make sense to me or anyone that lives in the community that we are even debating our safety. I hope that no one has to live through the loss of a loved one before the brilliant engineers come to the same conclusion of us less intelligent folks whose lives are at risk here.

Posted 11:14 AM, 06.18.09 | Permalink

user patwilliford says...

While a traffic light might improve the safety on Montgomery Road, I doubt it would have helped in saving my friend, Ted Leffler's, life on March 5, 2007. What was not included in the article is that Dr. Leffler was killed by the other driver, Christopher McCullogh, who happened to be drunk. The only thing that would have saved both of their lives is if someone would have pevented Christopher from getting behind the wheel after celebrating his 21st birthday immediately before the accident. In this case, a light would not have stopped him in crossing the center line and heading in to the oncoming lane of traffic. Two lives wasted by a drunk drive.

Posted 2:14 PM, 06.27.09 | Permalink