More News

As traffic flow increases through the Town of New Market, crosswalks have been the subject of some concern from residents and leaders.

Development, coupled with the fact that Md. Route 144 — the main collector road for Eaglehead and points west of town — is the town's Main Street, has brought an ever-increasing flow of cars and trucks through downtown New Market.

And according to some residents, some drivers have been ignoring crosswalks, including one at New Market Elementary School.

"The issue at hand is that people are going way too fast," said Jason Anderson, principal of New Market Elementary School.

The town's speed limit is 30 mph.

Anderson said he spoke with a concerned parent in New Market in the fall, but when he spoke with Frederick County Public Schools officials, they told him that crossing guards were generally members of the community, and that the school system would not be able to provide one.

"Basically, it's out of the school's hands," he said.

The New Market Town Council has been working to study means of controlling traffic through town, including the possibility of new traffic lights. There are no traffic lights in the Town of New Market, however, the Town Council has written the Maryland State Highway Administration requesting that it study installing some. Burhans said the administration would have to decide where and if traffic lights could be installed in the town. "We've got to do something to help calm traffic," said Mayor Winslow Burhans III.

In the meantime, Burhans said the town has requested that the state paint stripes in the crosswalk at Town Hall, making another dangerous pedestrian crossing in town more visible. He said that without a bypass, which was removed from Frederick County planning maps and would not be an option for the town without annexation and more development, traffic from Eaglehead will continue to flow through New Market. In February 2008, the Frederick Board of County Commissioners did a study that predicted traffic based on expected development around New Market, which showed that in 20 years there will be at least 3,000 vehicles per hour travelling Main Street during peak travel hours.

This is several times the current rate of traffic, and Burhans said this outlook was not good for the town's problem. He said town leaders would have to find some solution to mitigate the projected traffic. "I can't imagine what it's going to be like with 3,000 extra vehicles [on Main Street]," Burhans said.

E-mail Chris Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.