Plumtree roundabout work to begin, completing Tollgate Road from Bel Air to Abingdon

Construction will begin soon on a roundabout that will finally close the last gap in Tollgate Road between Plumtree Road and Bel Air South Parkway, creating an &quot;alternative&quot; to using Routes 24 or 924 between Bel Air and Abingdon.Tollgate will be closed between Ring Factory and Plumtree roads, and Plumtree will be closed between Route 24 and Cypress Drive, starting about Aug. 4 for the work, county government spokesperson Cindy Mumby said. The project will take about two months.The roundabout is part of a deal with Peak Management, which has been building the 198-unit Avanti Luxury Apartments complex since last year on the west side of Route 24, between Tollgate, Plumtree and Bel Air South Parkway.The developer was required to pay $350,000 of a total $1.04 million cost for the project, Mumby said Tuesday.Construction on the Evergreen Woods apartments continues with several buildings well underway on the site between Plumtree and Bel Air South Parkway.The cost is higher than that of a typical roundabout, and it includes items like sidewalks, additional approach road construction, stormwater management and traffic signal work at Route 24, she said. It is also higher than an estimate given by the county last year of about $700,000.The Plumtree roundabout is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, Mumby said.Once the Plumtree roundabout is built and the gap in Tollgate closed, there will be eight roundabouts along Tollgate, between Route 24 in Abingdon and Route 1 in Bel Air, a distance of approximately five miles.The Tollgate Road completion will result in three north-south routes between central Bel Air and the I-95 interchange with Route 24: Route 924, the oldest, is the east leg; Route 24, completed in 1987, is the middle route; and Tollgate, built in sections as the area west of 24 developed over the past 30 years, is the west leg.Route 24 is a divided, four-lane limited access highway. The other two routes are single lanes in each direction, with scores of driveways and business entrances in the case of 924. Most of the properties bordering Tollgate, except around Route 1, Bel Air South Parkway and at Constant Friendship near Route 24, are residential.The completion of the roundabout and final extension of Tollgate are expected to help drivers in the mostly-residential developments along Tollgate use Route 24 less, and therefore improve traffic flow in general, according to Mumby.&quot;It is an alternative, and it will likely be most convenient and used for the citizens on that side of Tollgate and 24, but it has been intentionally planned to discourage drivers from using it as a 24/924 bypass,&quot; Mumby said.With frequent curves, a low speed limit and roundabouts, Tollgate, which is a &quot;collector road&quot; instead of an &quot;arterial road&quot; like 24, is designed to slow down traffic.&quot;The roundabouts help discourage folks from driving off from Route 24 and 924 to use Tollgate,&quot; Mumby said, although she added it is nevertheless an alternative.For residents west of Route 24, &quot;that makes the most sense, for people who are already on Tollgate, that they choose to use that,&quot; she said.

Plumtree roundabout work to begin, completing Tollgate Road from Bel Air to Abingdon

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