A proposal by a Carroll citizens group to streamline Route 140 rather than build a Westminster bypass would require the state to tear down 18 businesses and would cut off many of the remaining merchants' direct access to the highway.
The idea has already drawn fire from Westminster Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan.
"They're trying to take 140 and turn it into 795, which is totally unrealistic once everything is in place," he said.
Mr. Yowan and the Greater Westminster Development Corp. are starting to inform business owners about the proposal. The mayor said the Carroll Life proposal would "take a lot of land that is zoned commercial, and it won't bring in any revenues."
Donna Leanos, general manager of Cranberry Mall, said she hasn't received information about the proposal yet but that the mall owners would be likely to oppose "anything that would make it more difficult for a shopper to get into our mall."
Vince Iadevaia, general manager of Griffith Auto Park, expressed misgivings about the impact of losing direct access to Route 140. "Nobody's ever said to me that we might get shut down in the front of the building," he said.
Westminster city planner Katrina L. Tucker, who got a look at the Carroll Life proposal at a State Highway Administration technical meeting last week, said it would mean more traffic on city streets and therefore more city money going into street upgrading.
The proposal could make it more difficult for drivers to get around town. For example:
* A driver on Center Street who wanted to get on Route 140 would have to go to the Route 27 interchange. A new street proposed by the SHA would run from Center Street to Route 27 to help county government employees enter Route 140. The road would run behind East Middle School, possibly dividing the facility from its athletic fields."
* Route 140 would have right turn off ramps at what are now major intersections, but drivers could get on the highway only at three interchanges -- Route 97 north, Route 27 and Route 97 south. To reach Cranberry Mall, a driver traveling west on Route 140 would take an exit ramp at Cranberry Road that would lead to the mall road.
* Bridges would carry traffic on Sullivan and Gorsuch Roads over Route 140. Underpasses would take traffic on Center Street and Englar Road under the highway.
The SHA has begun reviewing engineering drawings of the citizens group's proposal. R. Suseela Rajan, SHA project manager, and Neil J. Pedersen, director of the SHA's office of planning, are scheduled to meet this month with Carroll Life to go over the drawings.
The Board of Education would be concerned about a road that divided East Middle School from the athletic fields, said Vernon F. Smith, director of school support services.
"If they kept it close to the stream [that runs parallel to Route 140] and limited the impact on the school campus, that might be something we'd look at more favorably," he said.
Carroll Life president Kenneth E. Davidson said he could not comment because he had not seen the engineering drawings. He said the group asked the SHA to preserve as many businesses as possible.
Ms. Rajan said she plans to assemble a focus group to discuss the proposal and will eventually schedule a public meeting on it.
The SHA was scheduled to choose a bypass or alternate plan for Route 140 by the end of 1994, but consideration of the Carroll Life plan delayed the selection.
Residents formed Carroll Life last year to oppose a Westminster bypass. The group has about 100 active members, many of whom live on a proposed bypass route.
Spokeswoman Liz Kalinowski said the SHA work on the citizens' proposal is "part of our public involvement process." The agency is also required by federal law to consider "all reasonable alternatives" to highway project.
Ms. Kalinowski said she could not give a cost estimate for the Carroll Life proposal alone, because it is under consideration with the other options to improve Route 140 or build a bypass. The state's total budget for planning the project is $2 million.