Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

Aerial view

Where we live, we are about as close to stuff (malls, restaurants, roiling mob scenes) in the next county up the road as we are to events in our own county seat, so we find it easy to scoot up Harford Rd (MD 147) or Belair Rd to get to Bel Air, in Harford County.  We are not alone in doing so, obviously.  Lots of people take Harford Rd to go north and south. The problem comes in when people on an east-west road, such as Mount Vista Rd, want to go home or go shopping by getting on Harford Rd.  There's no signal light at the intersection, so they often have to sit for what seems like hours on end to make a left or right turn.

So the state of Maryland is going to spend 3.7 million tax dollars to built a roundabout at the intersection.

A roundabout is defined as "a type of looping junction in which road traffic travels in one direction around a central island and priority is given to the circulating flow. Signs usually direct traffic entering the circle to slow and to give way to traffic already on it."

It's very simple.  You approach the circle, and you don't do a doggone thing until there is a break in the traffic, and then you get in the flow, and get off where you need to.

The state says that they have been putting in traffic roundabouts since 1994 with "zero intersection-related fatalities" since.

The Towson Traffic Tsunami

On the other hand...I'm certain my late mom, in the autumn of her driving years, was not the only person who would drive to from Baltimore to Cleveland to avoid using the traffic roundabout in Towson. That's a wild one, like a mini-Beltway, actually, with two lanes spinning clockwise and someone always trying to get off from the wrong lane.  There really should be Xanax dispensers at the entrances.  

The work on the roads will take until late next summer, but motorists who dislike roundabouts are advised to start panicking about using the circle now.  

And for those pondering what the heck the title "Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley" means...click here!