Oakland bypass will affect community forever

To the Editor:
Cumberland Times-News

The Maryland Highway Administration will conduct a public meeting with the Garrett County commissioners in the commissioners’ meeting room on Oct. 2 at 10 a.m.

One of the projects discussed will be the No. 1 priority given to the U.S. Route 219 Oakland bypass by the Garrett County Planning Commission. This highway project has been declared off budget by Gov. O’Malley (declared at a public meeting at Frostburg State University) and also denounced by former Gov. Parris Glendening in correspondence to the writer of this letter.

It appears the planning commission is not listening to the honest opposition to this $42 million-plus abomination that will destroy not only farmland but the downtown business community, rather listening to the developers who are trying to establish a new business district.

If for one moment you think this will be a limited access highway, think again, and drive from Uno’s restaurant on Route 219 along the lake to McHenry and determine how limited that is, and think how many rear-end accidents occur there during the summer months. This bypass will last about 10 minutes at the outset from being limited access.

We ask the planning commission to direct their priorities to state Route 495, a more direct route from the Northern Industrial Park to the Southern Industrial Park. This proposal was made in the Garrett County Comprehensive Plan of 1974 signed by Garrett County commissioners Wayne Hamilton, Don Bender and George Edwards, now Sen. Edwards. The purpose was to divert thru-traffic away from Deep Creek Lake.

We invite everyone with an interest for or against the bypass to attend this meeting and express your views. We also invite each county commissioner to make a public statement as to their individual position. This is extremely important and will affect our community forever.

DeCorsey Bolden

Chairman

Garrett Countians

for Smart Growth



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