Should you have any questions regarding the Cross Creek Club H.O.A., please contact the management company, Pinnacle L.C. To visit Pinnacle on the web, go to www.pindevcorp.com.
The Cross Creek Family Highlights Old Gunpowder Road Problems
By Paul G. Zurkowski
County Councilman Tom Dernoga’s Public Meeting on Old Gunpowder Road Safety Enhancement was held Monday, March 23, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the Fairland Sports & Aquatics Complex. Current consideration of the Master Plan, he explained, has previously involved a number of public meetings addressing plans for the future of Old Gunpowder Road between 198 and Ammendale Road that state only that the highway would ultimately be four lanes wide with no mention of how to do this safely and effectively.
Mr.Deroga convened this meeting to address those two questions, safety and effectiveness.
More than 50 people attended including representatives from the following community groups:
Beltsville Citizens Association
Calverton Citizens Association
Gunpowder Citizens Association
Franklin Farms Homeowners Association
West Laurel Civic Association
Cross Creek Homeowners Association
Beltsville Seventh Day Adventist Church
All of the above, except Cross Creek, supported the widening of Old Gunpowder Road to four lanes on the basis of increasing traffic volumes. Many expressed concern for affected Cross Creek families. Everyone identified one or more traffic and safety problems along Old Gun Powder Road.
Seven representatives of the Cross Creek community attended led by HOA Board President Anthony Cade. Three residents of Sinope Drive led off, all of whom were noticeably upset about:
• residents finding it almost impossible to breech the traffic to get out of their street,
• families cut off from the main Cross Creek Community,
• the high speed of traffic on the road through their housing area,
• the safety of school children getting on and off school buses,
• the impossibility of school buses being able to turn onto the frontage road,
• the disaster of having what they consider will be a continued high speed road within
a few feet of their front doors without being able to do anything about it, and finally
• the fact that the developer failed to disclose the relocation of the road to them when
they bought their homes.
Pedestrian bridges and tunnels were discussed but were universally rejected. A roundabout at Bay Hill Drive and Old Gunpowder, a safety island on the median strip of the four lane road and a traffic light at Greencastle were discussed as possible ways to slow area traffic and provide a safer environment for cars and pedestrians in this neighborhood. Speed cameras especially in the Cross Creek sector is a continuing goal of the County Council.
Officials from the State Highway Department, Park and Planning and Konterra as well as State Senate and Delegate staff representatives, participated in trying to figure out how best to deal with what were recognized as Cross Creek’s real problems. One official indicated that widening would take place in “out” years, estimated to be from six to 20 years in the future depending on availability of funding but not in the current master plan’s six year lifetime.
Mr. Dernoga said the problems identified by Cross Creek residents were what he sought to identify at this meeting and that it was clear the problems facing Sinope Drive residents were the most serious and troublesome requiring addressing before a new master plan was adopted.
Officials now will develop detailed plans for addressing not only the Cross Creek set of problems, but also problems at Greencastle, the Fairland Aquatic interchange and several other trouble spots. Another public meeting will be held in three or four weeks when the cast of characters will be reconvened to see if they find the recommended solutions adequate and remedial or have further recommendations for solving the long list of troubles along Old Gunpowder Road.