Construction begins today on a $2.6 million post office for Sykesville, a building three times the size of the facility that now serves Carroll's most populated area.

Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett will officiate at the 9 a.m. groundbreaking on the 3.5-acre site at Route 32 and Progress Way. The Western Maryland Republican helped in the effort to bring a new post office to the area and mediated a dispute about its location.

Postal officials originally were interested in a property at Route 32 and Bennett Road north of the current site. Residents of several subdivisions along Bennett Road strongly opposed that choice because of traffic and safety issues. The Progress Way site, across from a new health and ambulatory surgery center run by Carroll County General Hospital, was the second choice.

Traffic studies will determine if a signal is needed at the Progress Way intersection. It would be the fourth traffic light in a less-than-one-mile stretch of the highway.

Postal officials expect to open the 21,500-square-foot building in about a year. Customers will have 35 parking spots, a Postal Store to purchase prepackaged products, and 1,500 mailboxes, twice the number available at the old building in downtown Sykesville.

South Carroll, with 28,000 residents, had long ago outgrown the old post office, built at Sandosky and Village roads about 25 years ago. More than 50 employees are crowded into a space built for half that number.

Pub Date: 7/13/98