Letter to the Editor: Traffic Light at Seven Oaks Needs Tweaking

The following is a letter from Seven Oaks resident Carol Barton to Nestor Flores, the traffic engineer for west Anne Arundel County. It has been reprinted here with her permission.

I would like Mr. Flores and the county Department of Public Works to reconsider the early-morning (and weekend) timing of the overly long red lights at Charter Oaks and Route 175 in the pre-dawn hours. I live in Seven Oaks and take the MARC train to DC before 6 a.m., when there's nary a soul on the road in any direction, save the few poor early-risers who have long commutes, like me. Invariably, I get stuck at that seven-minute light to let non-existent traffic go, sequentially, in three directions, before the green go-ahead comes around to me again—which is a strong temptation for people within the development to speed, trying not to get stuck there interminably, especially if they're running late. On the weekends, because "free" time is so precious, and because the Fort Meade gate is closed anyway, the timing is the same, and it's equally frustrating if one is trying to run errands or get in a workout (or both).

Please make the lights at intersections along Route 175 (particularly Charter Oaks and Bluewater) shorter until the sun comes up on weekdays. Non-military people have to report for duty before reveille, too! Adjusting their timing on weekends is not as crucial, but it would certainly be nice. Our community seems to have reaped few of the promised benefits of BRAC, and most of the inconvenience. (Our property values haven't increased—they've declined—and traffic has become steadily worse.)

Thanks for anything you can do to alleviate this situation.

—Carol Barton, Seven Oaks