Controversial Cedarday Drive extension open in Bel Air

The extension of Cedarday Drive to Cedar Lane near the regional park entrance is open to traffic, the Harford County Department of Public Works announced.

The road extension project has been in the works for several years and was once strongly opposed by many residents of the Cedarday community, who said extending the main street through their community would cause Cedarday Drive to become a cut through for people using Wheel Road to get to Cedar Lane Regional Park.

Despite that opposition, the county pushed ahead with the extension project last year. The bridge across Broad Run was built previously by the builder in Cedarday under mandate from the county. The project has been on the drawing board for more than two decades.

Last year, when work was beginning on the final extension of Cedarday Lane, Harford County Executive David Craig refused to halt the project, telling residents via a letter the county would monitor the traffic situation once the job was completed and take appropriate measures if any problems arose.

A county news release issued late Thursday noted "a new portion of Cedarday Drive has been opened tying into Cedar Lane near Cedar Lane Park."

The brief county news release also announced the reopening of Cedar Lane from the Cedar Lane Park entrance to about 750 feet west of entrance, where the new Cedarday extension connects. That portion of Cedar Lane had been closed for more than a month for reconstruction of the road.