Although the State Highway Administration has said it will consider objections raised last week to the proposed expansion of a nine-mile stretch of Route 32 in western Howard County, some opponents say they doubt they have stopped the widening project.

"Until I hear them say, 'We're scrapping our plans,' I'll assume they're pushing it through," said Don Croce, a member of a grass-roots organization called the Citizens Alliance for Rural Preservation. "We know this is something that is not going to go away."

But other alliance members who voiced concerns about traffic and noise said they were encouraged by the more than 250 people who attended Thursday's public hearing at Glenelg High School on the proposed expansion.

"It was loud and clear that people are not going to sit around and let this happen," said Alliance President Deborah Izzi. "When people are empowered, it's not a helpless situation."

One of the people in attendance was state Del. Robert L. Flanagan, a Republican whose district includes the corridor.

"If [SHA] doesn't solve some of the problems that concern me about the widening, I'm going to oppose funding of the project," Flanagan promised. "They can't build it without money."

Even if SHA receives the funding, construction wouldn't begin for at least five years.

A state highway official said the agency is combing through several dozen complaints, but that it expects to make a decision on Route 32 by this summer.

"We're not discarding anything that we've developed up to this point," said SHA project engineer Vaughn Lewis. "We heard what the public had to say, and we want to give their ideas and concerns serious consideration."

Highway officials began searching for a solution to Route 32 problems in 1995 at the county's urging. As growth exploded in the western part of Howard and in Carroll County, more travelers started using the corridor to get to Annapolis and Washington.

Officials have voiced concerns about the increase in reported accidents on Route 32, from 91 in 1995-1996 to 144 in 1997-1998.

Traffic projections also show that traffic between Route 108 and Linden Church Road is expected to grow from 18,300 vehicles a day in 1997 to 29,900 a day in 2020.

Last year, SHA unveiled two construction options. One involves doubling the two-lane thoroughfare between Route 108 and Interstate 70 and installing seven interchanges and entrance and exit ramps at, among other locations, Burntwoods Road and Nixons Farm Lane. The projected cost of that alternative is $161 million -- about $14 million more than a second option, which would differ only by eliminating the interchange at Nixons Farm Lane.

Lewis said the agency is reviewing comments such as the one from state Sen. Christopher J. McCabe, a Howard Republican, who suggested reducing the number of interchanges.

"If we pull one of these interchanges out, there's going to be an impact upstream or downstream," Lewis said. "We'll analyze it and see what the consequences are."

The citizens alliance is warning about the impact of traffic and noise from the expansion on the surrounding area. Izzi said she questions the project's compatibility with Gov. Parris N. Glendening's Smart Growth Initiative.

"I think we have to look higher than the State Highway Administration," Izzi said, adding that the alliance is keeping open a legal challenge.

Pub Date: 3/24/99