(3/1) Though the Myers farm
annexation, if approved, would not be expected
to have additional access to U.S. Route 15,
the access points it does include would be
J-turn intersections.
“Based on some of the information we have
now is that we’re looking at J-turns,” said
Mark Keeley with Traffic Concepts in
Gambrills. Traffic Concepts is performing the
traffic impact studies for the potential
annexation of the Myers farm north of
Thurmont.
A J-turn intersection involves a car
merging into traffic flow from the right lane
and then moving to the left lane to make a
U-turn to continue traveling in the opposite
direction. The Hayward Road intersection with
Route 15 in Frederick is a J-turn, so too, is
the College Lane intersection with Route 15 in
Emmitsburg.
When asked about how much the traffic at
Hayward Road backs up, Keeley said that the
problem with the Hayward Road intersection is,
“There’s not enough distance to weave into
that left-turn lane to make that U-turn.”
The expected J-turns at the Franklinville
Road intersections in Thurmont would be about
.8 miles long.
Keeley added that it’s unlikely that the
state would allow additional access points to
Route 15 and the traffic volume does not
justify building a full interchange.
“It’s not really going to be up to us,” Keeley
said. “We’re going to have to work with the
state.”
Traffic Concepts has conducted preliminary
studies but still need to refine the data as
background growth from Pennsylvania is added
into the traffic growth projections.
As for additional traffic a retail center
at that location might generate, Keeley points
out two things. One is that the retail centers
would most likely not open until after the
morning rush hours and not all of the trips to
the center would be additional traffic.
“A lot of traffic heading north-southbound
is going to be pulled off into the site. So a
lot of them won’t be new trips,” he said.
The Thurmont Commissioners have not taken a
final vote on the project, but a recent poll
of residents showed that 66 percent are
against it.
