For more information about the proposed plan review the documents below.
We are pleased to present the attached "Proposed Beach to Bridge Traffic Plan" for your review. The objective of this plan is to keep Bay Bridge bound traffic on Rt. 50, thus eliminating local congestion on Kent Island and in Grasonville. As you know, we are extremely concerned about westbound traffic exiting Route 50 prior to the Bay Bridge and the resulting local traffic issues.
With the increasing popularity of traffic apps such as Waze, which utilizes user information to constantly adjust routes, returning beach traffic is being re-directed further into the collector and local roads off of Rt. 50 thus creating traffic jams deeper into our communities. These traffic jams create safety risks as they limit our emergency service providers' ability to respond to crises and restrict our citizens to their homes.
This packet includes two tabs; Tab 1, Maps and Tab 2, Traffic Counts. The maps in Tab 1, developed in conjunction with the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Department and emergency service providers, starting east of the 50/301 split and continuing to the Rt. 8 exit on Kent Island consist of:
• Map 12 - Eliminating the left tum from Rt. 50 to Rt. 18 west of Queenstown Outlets;
• Map 11 - Implementing police checkpoint at Nesbit Road overpass to allow local traffic only;
• Map 10 - Leaving westbound Exits 45A, 44B, 44A open as they only serve local communities with no outlet to Rt. 50;
• Map 9 - Leaving westbound Exit 43A open and implementing police checkpoint at Chester River Beach overpass to allow local traffic only;
• Map 8 - Closing westbound Exit 42;
• Map 7 - Leaving westbound Exit 41 open for access to the Kent Narrows and implementing police checkpoint east of the Rt. 50 on ramp off of Rt. 18 to allow local traffic only;
• Map 6 - Leaving Exit 40A open but closing Piney Creek Road;
• Map 5 - Leaving Exit 39B open but closing Chester River Station Road;
• Map 4 - Leaving Exit 39A open, closing Castle Marina Road north of Main Street and implementing police checkpoint on Main Street;
• Map 3 -Closing entrance to Shopping Center from Rt. 18 and implementing police checkpoint at intersection of Shopping Center Drive and Rt. 18 (Main Street) to allow local traffic only;
• Map 2 -Leaving Exit 38A open but closing Duke Street prior to Island Plaza Court;
• Map 1-Leaving Exit 37 open.
Tab 2 consists of traffic count data taken at the following locations: US 30 I at Del Rhodes A venue, US 50 at Carmichael Road, and US 50 west and east of the Bay Bridge. Page 1, Queen Anne's County Traffic Counting Program - Traffic Volumes Traveling Westbound and Eastbound on Sundays in July shows Sunday traffic volumes over the westbound span of the Bay Bridge ranging from 48,818 to 61,093 with an average of 55,290 on July Sundays (Row 5). By adding the counters east of the Bay Bridge at Carmichael Road and Del Rhodes Avenue (Rows 2 & 3) and subtracting these totals from the total number crossing the Bay Bridge (Row 5), we see that the local traffic (Kent Island and Grasonville) affecting the bridge traffic is only a fraction of the total traffic (shown as real numbers in Row 6 and percentage of total in Row 7). Similar calculations are shown on rows 8 thru 14 for eastbound Sunday traffic demonstrating that local traffic is a very small percentage of the total traffic on Rows 13 and 14.
We ask that MOOT take the time to review this plan, which would not be implemented until the 2019 beach season, and provide us with feedback and support. We will soon be hosting a series of town hall meetings with local residents, emergency service providers and businesses to allow for their input and suggestions. This endeavor will only be successful through the cooperation of our residents, law enforcement, state and local government and the beachgoers that travel Rt. 50. It needs to be clear to them that Rt. 50 is the only way to Reach the Bridge.