EMMITSBURG, Md. – Town administrators have been discussing the possibility of a town bypass for years. And yet, Emmitsburg seems no closer today than when proposals where originally debated.

Growth in Emmitsburg has not been remarkable compared to other areas, but in-town growth or even neighboring growth in Frederick County, is not seen as the primary source of traffic in the community. Most fingers point north to booming development just over the Mason-Dixon Line in South Adams County.

Recently, Frederick County Commissioner Michael Cady promised to push for consideration of an Emmitsburg bypass when the state is deciding on projects to be included in its six-year transportation budget. Some feel developers should help pay; others think Pennsylvania should have to come up with a solution.

Vehicle numbers soaring above projections

Projected town traffic patterns have exceeded expectations, especially regarding truck traffic.

According to local resident and streets committee member Catherine Forrence, citing Maryland State Highway Administration numbers, the SHA projected in 1986 that 7,500 vehicles would be using Main Street (MD 140) daily in 2006. In 2005, the SHA conducted a traffic count on West Main Street and found the number of actual users had risen to 8,475, nearly 1,000 vehicles more per day than projected in 1986.

Forrence points out the issue is not just traffic congestion, but the numbers of trucks can also damage roadways and homes and businesses located near the road, and generate both noise and emission pollution.

“The additional cars and heavy trucks traveling on Main Street from Pennsylvania have resulted in a lower life expectancy of our Main Street,” Forrence recently wrote to Senator Barbara Mikulski.

Additionally, she stated, “Our homes built in the days of horse and buggy (were) never designed to withstand the shock of 50,000 pound trucks bouncing within 20 feet of our front doors.”

Given the thousands of homes proposed during the past two years in South Adams County north of Emmitsburg, involving Liberty, Freedom, Hamiltonban and Cumberland townships and Carroll Valley and Fairfield boroughs, more traffic is almost certainly on the way.

No slow-down seen in Pennsylvania

The proposed developments north of Emmitsburg are in various stages, from contested preliminary plans to initial conditional approvals. There are those who feel now is the time to plan for the potential traffic that may be generated, rather than wait for completion of the developments.

Richard Schmoyer, director of the Adams County Office of Planning & Development, recently noted that Adams County as a whole has between 12,000 and 15,000 homes in some stage of review.

In the recent past, the realization of a bypass in Emmitsburg never came much closer than a collector road proposed across Pembrook, Brookfield and Silver Fancy lands, contingent on a Silver Fancy annexation.
More recently, discussions of a possible bypass, this time at the western edge of town, came up as a result of inquiries made into the possible annexation of lands along Annandale Road. The suggestion was that any developers of those lands contribute toward the creation of the bypass.

President of the Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners, Christopher Staiger, thinks developers hold the key. He told The Dispatch, “Based on my meeting with the Frederick County Commissioners, State Highway Administration, and Md. Department of Planning on Aug. 31, I believe that a developer-funded ‘bypass,’ achieved through a series of annexations is our only hope for any type of ‘bypass.’ At this point, the town does not have a viable plan as to how this might be achieved, and there is no visibility for such a project at the county or state level except for a few arbitrary lines drawn on previous town comprehensive plan maps.”

But Forrence contends that the answer lies not within the present or future bounds of Emmitsburg, but to the north amid the primary source of the traffic – Pennsylvania. She thinks that a potential Pennsylvania bypass, a Rt. 116-U.S. 15 connection traversing Southern Adams County, could help alleviate traffic through Emmitsburg.

The problem is that Adams County is not ready to pitch in and help. In fact, the county blames Maryland for the population increase in Pennsylvania, and the resulting increased traffic flow re-entering Maryland.

See “Adams position on Maryland traffic – ‘You reap what you sow’” in this issue.