THE PROBLEM -- A traffic detour around road construction in Overlea is too long, so motorists are instead using a neighborhood shortcut that is too narrow to handle the increased traffic.

THE BACKSTORY -- Last month, a contractor for Baltimore County's Public Works Department began a $1.2 million project to fix curbs, gutters, storm drains and sidewalks along Kenwood Avenue between Leslie and Lyndale avenues in Overlea. The work takes place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

An official detour redirects Kenwood Avenue traffic onto a long loop that follows Lillian Holt Drive, Rossville Boulevard and Belair Road. Most Kenwood Avenue motorists, however, just turn at the "Road Closed" signs onto McCormick Avenue, a curving residential street that is narrow on its easternmost end, between Councilman and Kenwood avenues.

Although McCormick is technically a two-way street at that point, it's only wide enough to accommodate one vehicle at a time. It's especially tight at a bend in the road, because a house sits close to the roadway, and drivers cannot see vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

Drivers pull over to allow other cars to pass by, carving deep ruts in the lawns of some homes, which are not protected by sidewalks or curbs. Several fences have also been damaged by wayward cars.

Dolores Mentzel put cinder blocks to mark the edge of her lawn, but when she came home from work, they had all been knocked down. "It's a mess," she said.

Baltimore County officials agree it's a problem.

"The problem is the detour is very long -- three miles," said David Fidler, county public works spokesman. "It's the best detour they could figure out."

Many people who live in nearby neighborhoods are finding their own shortcuts, he said -- though those streets were never designed to handle that much traffic.

The contractor set up barrels to encourage eastbound traffic on McCormick to turn left onto Councilman Avenue, bypassing the bend to get back to Kenwood, but some drivers have been ignoring them, Fidler said.

What officials don't know is how to solve the problem. "At the moment, we don't have a decision on it," Fidler said.

The project is expected to be finished this summer. Crews could close Kenwood 24 hours a day to speed up the work, but that would interfere with school buses that use the road.

Public works officials have spoken with community leaders about the issue, he said. "We're headed in the direction of some kind of cure for this, but don't have one yet," Fidler said.

A meeting will be set up within the next week to discuss the detour, he said.

WHO CAN FIX THIS -- Darrell Wiles, chief of the Bureau of Traffic Engineering, Baltimore County Department of Public Works, 410-887-3554

UPDATE

A curb cut in the median across from the Lyric Opera House on Mount Royal Avenue has been completely repaired, less than a month after a reader alerted Watchdog about its crumbling condition.