A 'Constant Struggle' to Renovate Route 1

Last Friday, Patch ran a brief overview of some of the plans in the works to improve Route 1 - namely, installing better pedestrian crosswalks. This article is intended to give some background on why a total overhaul is such a difficult thing to acheive.

Although the College Park City Council recently approved a plan to finally improve Route 1, it could take a while to acquire the funding needed to bolster the much-maligned roadway, city leaders said.

The council unanimously approved the plan for fiscal 2011 during a meeting last month, after years of work that required the advice of a consultant who helped the council and the community formulate the plan. The plan, which aims to reduce congestion along Route 1, then underwent a litany of edits and revisions before its final approval.

"The road itself needs a major overhaul," said Councilman Marcus Afazli (District 4). "Money is still an issue, and we're working to increase funding as much as possible. All we can do is keep pushing."

The road, Afazli said, is difficult to walk and bike along, and has very few options for public transportation. For instance, pedestrians walk along sidewalks that end abruptly, yet there's no crosswalk to help them to the other side of the road where the sidewalk continues.

Two years, the ICF International research firm conducted a study on ways to ease congestion along the Route 1 corridor. One suggestion, according to the firm's final report, was to widen the road, even though that could lessen the space for pedestrians and bicyclists. As a result, researchers wrote, more traffic could generate because of the expansion.

"It's been an issue since forever, a constant struggle," Afazli said. "We've been fighting for as long as possible to get up the priority list."

The State Highway Administration completed a study some five years to explore the possibility of renovating Route 1, but the plan was halted because the funding just wasn't there, said Kellie Boulware, an SHA spokeswoman.

"We aren't able to fund the larger scale, with funding being what it is," Boulware said. "You have to do what you can with what you have."

The revitalization of Route 1 is an "important issue" for the SHA, said Sandra Dobson, another SHA spokeswoman. But while there have been many proposals to renovate the road, the plans usually stall when deciding where the money will come from.

In this cash-strapped economy, she added, the agency doesn't have the money now to renovate Route 1. In years past, all money was expected to come from SHA.

"It's a long story that hasn't ended yet," Dobson said.