Email Comments
A Vital Connector to Schools, Kinder Farm Park and the B&A Trail
As emphasized in the June 2013 AA County Pedestrian/Bicycle Master Plan Update, establishing “key connectors” between existing infrastructure and “key attractors” is critical to increasing bike and pedestrian transportation. Here we have schools, Kinder Farm Park and nearby is the county’s premier bike/ped trail, the B&A Trail in close proximity but not yet safely connected.
Providing a shared-use path along Jumpers Hole Rd would provide safe bike and pedestrian travel for the broadest range of users – families, children, recreational riders, people with disabilities and road cyclists. It will also provide an important connection from Benfield Rd which is mostly shouldered and Kinder Rd./Earleigh Heights Rd. where a safe signaled pedestrian crossing and a trail linking to the Kinder Farm Park Trail system is vital to this project. From there, bikes and peds can use the KFP trail system to get to the sidepath along East/West Blvd. Adding bike lane markings to Benfield Rd. and Earleigh Heights Rd. would help expand the network and provide access to the B&A Trail and other destinations.
While it would be nice to have bike lanes in addition to a shared-use path along Jumpers Hole Rd., we feel that the $600k would be better used adding bike lanes to Earleigh Heights Rd. (from Jumpers Hole to the B&A Trail) and on Benfield Rd. to improve safe access to the B&A Trail and other destinations. Cyclists on Jumpers Hole Rd. would have the choice of using the shared-use path or riding on the road as experienced cyclists do now.
In summary:
- While option 1 is the most complete, we feel option 3 plus the connector trail into Kinder Farm Park and bike lanes on Benfield and Earleigh Heights is the best value for the most users.
- Add a signalized crossing of Kinder Rd and connector trail into Kinder Farm Park
- Add bike lanes to Earleigh Heights Rd and Benfield Rd. to create a network
We fully support this project and look forwarded to working with county officials to get it completed.
I wish to express my concerns over the proposals put forth for possibility adding sidewalk and bike paths along Jumpers Hole Road. I am one of the Chartwell residents who back up to Jumpers Hole Road. I wish to emphasize that WE DO NOT WANT WIDENING OR MOVEMENT OF THE ROAD. We all have septic systems, and every time this issue comes up this seems to be one issue that the people doing the plans do not realize.
We respectfully ask that you look into other options other than those which have been proposed. Chartwell is not a community that needs or wants a sidewalk along Jumpers Hole Road since we have pedestrian access to Kinder Park and the commercial areas by going through our community. The clamor for a sidewalk comes from residents on the east side of Jumpers Hole Road. If they want a sidewalk on the east side, we are fine with that but DO NOT WANT a major renovation involving median, road widening or moving the road. Have you checked into purchasing rights of way from residents on the east side to allow room for a sidewalk?
If, and only if, there has to be anything on the west side of Jumpers Hole Road, we prefer a bike path through the existing trees. The trees and greenery do cut down on traffic noise a little. I am assuming that a bike path does not have the requirement for snow removal and maintenance. I will soon be 75 years old, and I cannot assume snow removal responsibility behind my fence.
I'm so glad to see the plans for the addition of pedestrian and bike paths to Jumpers Hole road. I'd like to suggest a small extension of the plans to connect the path to the Kinder Farm access path running in front of Brittingham. This would take the path past Sylvan Ave (where I live) and eliminate the need for a dangerous walk along Jumpers Hole for my neighbors and I to access Kinder Farm Park.
Thanks for your efforts to improve pedestrian and bike safety in the area!
I think it is a priority to have a continuous sidewalk from Benfield to Retford on the east side of
Jumpers Hole road. This makes it easier for pretty much every one that starts in Chartwell or
Chartridge to access Safeway on foot or bicycle without either backtracking from the light at
Benfield or crossing at a location without an intersection.
The next priority is to have some sidewalk access from Retford to Kinder road. For my purposes (I
live in Chartwell) I don't really care which side of Jumpers Hole it is on. However, it will serve more
people and reduce nonintersection crossings if it is on the east side of the road. Although even
that will probably not eliminate crossings at Yorkshire.
Finally, as a pedestrian and cyclist (and having children who are both as well) there are 4 places I
want to be able to access safely and conveniently from Chartwell: The Safeway shopping center,
Kinder farm park, the B&A trail, and the new Harris Teeter shopping center. I will address each of
these below:
Safeway shopping center: As I said above, having a continuous sidewalk on the east side of the
road from Retford to Benfield will allow more convenient access for both Chartwell and Chartridge
to this shopping center. While I am commenting on this I would also like to point out that bicycle
and pedestrian access from the intersection of Benfield/Jumpers Hole road to Little Carmine's is a
bit difficult due to the lack of a sidewalk for the entire path.
Kinder farm park: When this project provides convenient access to Kinder road, some thought
needs to be given to how pedestrians and bicycles will access Kinder farm park. Currently I would
anticipate that most people will use the small cutthrough on Kinder road near the jumpers hole
intersection. This is a steep dirt path, and is not desirable to encourage this use by not providing a
better access. Better would be either a sidewalk or bike lane along Kinder road to the pedestrian
crossing at Wembly, or a sidewalk or bike lane along Jumpers Hole road to the entrance to the
park. Or improving the current sidetrail to a real entrance connected to the bike path inside
Kinder. I think I would prefer a sidewalk to access at Wembly, but that is probably because it
would make access from Chartwell to the Kinder/Jumpers Hole intersection easier as well.
B&A Trail: Riding or walking eastbound along Earleigh Heights connector is not a terrible
experience, but a sidewalk would improve it. However traveling westbound the sidewalk ends at
West Earleigh Heights, forcing bicycles to cross the road there. Plus for both directions there is
no signaled pedestrian crossing at Jumpers Hole road, forcing bicycles and pedestrians to have to
pay very close attention to traffic. And because the way this light works, crossing Jumpers hole on
foot seems to be safest at the north side of this intersection, which encourages pedestrians to
cross Earleigh Heights when the sidewalk ends at West Earleigh Heights. Also: this signal is
screwed up; it is timed like there is a dedicated left turn lane and signal from Kinder, but no such
lane or signal exists.
Harris Teeter shopping center: this has the same access problems as the B&A trail, plus there is a
stretch of West Earleigh Heights east of the B&A trail that is very dangerous for bicycles and pretty
much impossible for pedestrians. This desperately needs a sidewalk from the B&A trail to Ritchie
Highway.
In conclusion, in my opinion all of the alternatives presented meet the most important requirements
for pedestrian and bicycle access in the area. In addition, work needs to be done to access Kinder
farm park, the B&A trail, and the Harris Teeter shopping center.
I wanted to first thank you for the presentation of the potential upgrade plans for Jumpers Hole
Road in Severna Park to install sidewalks and upgrade the road in the area of Severna Park
Middle School. I want to emphasize that I FULLY SUPPORT this project in any form, but I also
wanted to give some feedback on the 4 options presented at the public meeting on May 23, 2017.
The full-blown option (I believe this was Option 1) with a Sidewalk, bike lanes, biker trial and
median is excellent. And it seems was not really much more expensive than the more scaled down
options (except for just the sidewalk). This is a one-shot deal whatever is done with this project will
likely not be alterable down the road so we should make the investment with this option. If a scale
back is needed see my comments below.
First and foremost, the most important goals of this project that need to be met are:
1) Install a sidewalk on the Chartridge side of the road and make the sight line improvements
necessary. All the options seem to include this so that is great. My primary comment on this is to
ensure that the sidewalk has adequate spacing and buffers. A sidewalk that is like what we see on
Benfield Road (near the Kensington community) is better than nothing, but can still be very
dangerous without adequate buffer space. If other options need to be scaled back to
accommodate this change I think this is more important than most other options.
2) Install some sort of real bike lane. While I really like having both a biker trail and bike lanes if
we need to scale anything back in this process for either cost, space.... I would lose the bike trail
but keep the standard bike lanes and Chartridge sidewalk (but with more spacing).
My other major comment is that I think there needs to be some consideration for a right turn lane
into the Middle school on the southbound lanes. This is a choke point when school is in transition
and it seemed that to get adequate space in that area the right turn is just incorporated with the
thru lane. Some kind of right turn or "usable/paved shoulder" might be a good plan.
Thanks for all this effort. Really looking forward to this moving ahead. Understand that despite the
yelling of a few residents right on the road here that this project enjoys WIDE scale support in the
community as a whole. If you need proof of that contact me directly and I will happy to get you
that feedback in a more official manner.
Thank you for providing an excellent opportunity for residents of Severna Park to learn more about the proposals
presented to improve the safety of Jumpers Hole Road just north of the Severna Park Middle School site.
I am writing as the President of the Greater Severna Park Council (GSPC), an umbrella group of 60 community
associations and homeowners’ associations in the Greater Severna Park area. This organization has been serving our
area for over 55 years.
Our organization has considered this topic multiple times during the 15 years I have served on the Board of GSPC. Each
and every time the Board AND the general membership (one voting delegate from each of our organizations) has voted
UNANIMOUSLY to support sidewalks and other safety improvements on Jumpers Hole Road.
At the meeting, you said it was likely that the option chosen to move forward would be some hybrid of the four offered.
Accordingly, GSPC has once again voted unanimously to support a project that accomplishes the following priorities.
1) A sidewalk on the east side of the road. That sidewalk must include
a surface wide enough for two or more persons to walk abreast and for strollers and wheelchairs to pass oncoming
pedestrians without stepping off the sidewalk and
2) a grassy median between it and the road and
3) a curb between the grassy median and the road.
4) There should be a bike lane or path on northbound and southbound lanes of the road.
5) There should be an improvement of the sight lines at Yorkshire Drive. The current situation makes it very difficult
for vehicles to safely enter Jumpers Hole Road and very difficult to see pedestrians attempting to cross the road between Chartridge and Chartwell.
6) There should be some consideration given to safety for turn lanes into and out of the communities on the east
side of Jumpers Hole Road.
Beyond these requirements, we recognize differences of opinion on whether the plan should include a median or a
hiker/biker path on the west side of the road and take no position on these aspects of some of the plans.
We recognize the concern of our community members on the west side of Jumpers Hole Road and ask that you take
every effort to secure the safety of drivers, bikers and pedestrians on Jumpers Hole Road without undue intrusion on the
privacy and security of homeowners whose properties are adjacent to the site.
I would like to comment on my support for bicycle and pedestrian safety measures along Jumpers Hole. I believe this is
an important initiative. I understand that the budget will require certain compromises, but I would prefer bike lines and
sidewalks on both sides of the street.
Hopefully the county can continue to focus on the health and safety of its population by taking measures to encourage
more walking and bicycling by providing safer routes. I hope this is still the case with the Lynwood sidewalk, which was
supposed to be completed this spring.
Thanks for the time explaining the planning for the side walk on Jumpers Hole Rd. We are in favor of option 2 (side walk
on East side and Trail on West side). Also, feel the scope of the project should be expanded to include a side walk/trail
on Kinder Rd to have access to Kinder Farm Park.
I attended the information meeting last night at Severna Park Middle School. I was very happy to hear that
improvements are being proposed. It is long overdue. I have lived in Chartridge for 29 years and have been waiting for
something to be done on that road to make it safer for the students, as well as adults alike who walk the road.
Something similar to this was proposed years ago and nothing happened which was a real disappointment. Both of my
children went to Severna Park Middle and it was a long way to get there from our house off Yorkshire Drive.
That said, I prefer any option other that option 4 which does not have a sidewalk past Retford, has no median or
widening.
I prefer Option 1, which has a sidewalk from Kinder to Benfield. So many more children will be able to ride their bikes
safely as well as walk safely. My second preference would be Option 2 as well as not to have to take a bus.
I really hope that this comes to fruition sooner than later.