Owings Mills Boulevard Extension Opens

The first of two long-planned extensions to Owings Mills Boulevard opened Monday morning, marking the first step in connecting Owings Mills to the Liberty Road corridor.

“This road is more than just a solution for traffic, it also creates an economic development opportunity,” said Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

The extension, which is about a mile long and cost $14 million to build, connects the roadway from Lyons Mill Road to Winands Road. The new road includes a 50-foot long bridge of the Horsehead Branch of the Gwynns Falls, 1,600 feet worth of retaining walls and a new traffic light at Winands Road. The county also planted 2,800 new trees and bushes along the road, Kamenetz said.

Construction on the newly opened, four-lane divided highway began in March 2010. Phase two, which is set to begin in 2013 and take about two years, will extend the roadway to Liberty Road. The construction, for which the timetable could change, will cost $15 million and include a 240-foot bridge over the Scotts Level Branch of the Gwynns Falls, Baltimore County Public Works spokesman David Fidler said.

The county executive was joined by Councilman Ken Oliver, Councilwoman Vicki Almond, Public Works Director Ed Adams, community officials and neighborhood residents.

Adams, who introduced the county executive, was the first mention that the road was decades in the making.

“Quite honestly, it’s something I never thought I’d see,” he said. Public meetings for the road were held 15 years ago, but the planning goes back even further.

Kamenetz said the process began 30 years ago, when Owings Mills New Town and Owings Mills Boulevard were first planned.

“The wheels of government sometimes move slowly, but the wheels will pick up as we get traffic through here,” he said.

The county executive said the Lyonwoods community, which the new road cuts though, wasn’t happy with the new roadway, but understood the county’s need for it. He assured residents that county police will make sure the road “doesn’t become a speedway,” he said.

Kamenetz added that the connection will help market the Liberty Road corridor to national retailers, who will see that the area is linked to Interstates 695 and 795.

“I always understood [this connection] as a need to grow the Liberty Road corridor,” he said.