At this week’s Work Session, Kelly from Century Engineering presented a Concept Study overview for improvements to Van Dusen Road – It takes a look at the full length of Van Dusen (all the way from Sandy Spring Road to Konterra Road) and identifies multitudes of enhancements and streamlines that’ll make residents’ lives easier while traveling the corridor.

I really appreciated the number of and types of improvements identified, as development along Van Dusen has been modified here-and-there over the last couple decades (and the City even inherited part of it from PG County in that time window), so it’s become a little choppy and confusing in more than one part (I know I’ve experienced myself the need to weave back-and-forth between lanes just to go straight, leading to confusion).

Some of the highlights are:

  • Consistent car ‘through lanes’ (i.e., no more weaving back and forth) :)
  • Consistent and compliant road signage and pavement paintings (so fully comparable to what you are used to on other roads)
  • Building out the bus pads to meet requirements and make much more usable
  • Traffic barriers and median strips to help calm and shepherd traffic in a safe manner
  • Better timing and phasing of traffic light signals
  • Connecting, extending, upgrading sidewalks for walkers, hikers, cyclists, wheelchair users, and more

I took particular interest in this last one as I think it’d be a real service to the community to have end-to-end sidewalk/ hiker-biker trail – It would allow residents to avail of getting to different City parks, easier access down to Laurel Lakes amenities and shopping, schools (like Laurel High School), and more. This would be not only good for general health and recreation (like taking jogs, going for walks and bike rides, etc.), it also expands access for employment (getting to various retail and office locations), and make our town even more attractive for getting around in multiple ways.

Note: Some of the steps are easily accomplished in next 3-6 months (and some are already done), others will involve getting an engineering work up, then construction bid. So you’ll be seeing these improvements over approximately the next 1-3 years, but the end result is going to be great in my opinion.

Thank you to DPW Director Miller for inviting Kelly to come present and share with the community, and check out the presentation slides for additional details.