CITIZENS ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH BOWIE
P.O. BOX 1604
| BOWIE. MARYLAND | 20717-1604 |
August 1, 2006
Mr. Darrell B. Mobley District Engineer
State Highway Administration 9300 Kenilworth Avenue Greenbelt Maryland 20770
Dear Mr. Mobley:
This letter is in response to Mr. Pedersen's letter of July 7, 2006, which was copied to you. Our Association appreciates Mr. Pedersen's consideration of concept development funding for the US 301 South and Pointer Ridge Drive intersection, but we feel that his approach is too slow in solving the current and easily anticipated future impending traffic problems at this intersection.
Mr. Pedersen's letter quotes data from 2003 to 2005. If your department included 2006 data you would have found that on January 31, 2006 there was, as the BOWIE BLADE-NEWS reported in it's February 2,2006 editions (Enclosed is a copy of the article), a HORRIFIC Two-Car Collision at this intersection that closed down US 301 in both directions from midafternoon hours through rush hours. This accident involved Two Medivac helicopters, 10 police cars, six :fire trucks from four Prince George's Fire Stations, four ambulances, four state troopers, three tow trucks, an additional medic unit, and a mini-bulldozer.
I will not attempt to calculate the man-hours used to return to normal service, nor the cost to tax payers for the time and manpower used to clear this traffic accident, but I would estimate it to have been in the thousands of dollars. I am not including the thousands of man hours lost to the motorists who were involved in the backups created in this accident, nor the costs of replacement of lost cars, lost salaries, trauma, and medical costs to the occupants of the vehicles involved in this accident.
In my letter to Mr. Pedersen, I emphasized the deaths that might occur at this intersection which would be unacceptable, but our association is also concerned with the safety of the citizens and tax payers of our communities and county. All we are asking is for you to take faster action in placing a safety feature at this intersection to prevent additional accidents from happening. Specifically, we are asking for a channelization of the left lane.
We appreciate your time and interest taken in the consideration of this request.
