Howard County Executive James N. Robey will join Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin and U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes today for the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Elkridge post office.

The post office, in the 6600 block of Santa Barbara Road, will serve 38,000 people and have 16 Elkridge carrier routes and nine rural routes. The 21,000-square feet facility will be built on a 3-acre site, and will include a postal store with retail services.

Scheduled to open next summer, the post office, with ZIP code 21075, will consolidate several postal facilities residents have been using.

"I think it's great that they're opening a full-fledged post office," said resident Sam Merson. "I was hoping that they were going to put it in the heart of Elkridge."

But Merson added that no matter where the post office is built, "we need this."

Pub Date: 6/21/99