With Council Approval, Travilah Road Improvement Project Stays on Schedule

Ten years since the Montgomery County Department of Transportation first envisioned the Travilah Road enhancement project, the final sidewalk is set to be completed.

The majority of the project, which included the addition of a bike trail, pavement widening and leveling of parts of the road between Dufief Mill and Darnestown Roads, was completed in June 2009. But because of a 1978 charter amendment, the Montgomery County Council had to approve a bill explicitly recognizing the use of local funds for the completion of the project, which exceeded the $12,732,000 limit for individually authorized projects. 

The total $12,989,000 cost of the project has already been allocated and more than 75 percent was spent on the project's first phase. The Montgomery County Council approved the authorization bill on Tuesday, giving the Department of Transportation the formal go ahead to begin planning phase two. 

The bill is eligible for a referendum if more than 10,000 sign a petition to put it on the ballot in the next election, according to a council staff member. 

Before the Travilah Road project began, the road varied in width and lacked a complete sidewalk, shoulder and roadside drainage. The justification for the project cited 37 car accidents in a three year period and repeated flooding during storms. 

In Phase I, crews widened the pavement from 22 feet to 24 feet between Nolan Drive and Lake Winds Way, created a left-turn and right-turn lane a the Piney Meetinghouse Road intersection, widened the pavement from 20 feet to 22 feet between Lake Winds Way and Dufief Mill Road, added an 8-foot wide bike trail and a 4-foot grass shoulder and drainage ditch along the north side of the road. The project also included the addition of streetlighting on the south side of the street.

In Phase II, which is scheduled to begin in spring 2012, crews will add an 8-foot wide grass shoulder and drainage ditch between 400 feet west of Nolan Drive and Dufief Mill Road and complete the missing 5-foot wide sidewalk on the south side of the road.

A quarter of the project's funds, just less than $4 million, went to land acquisition, an estimated half of which was obtained through a practice called "advanced taking", according to Holger Serrano, Department of Transportation deputy director of the construction.

DOT is required to contact a homeowner at least three times to discuss the acquisition of a patch of their land to build the bike path or sidewalk. Most of the acquisitions for the 14,400-foot project were less than 10 feet, Serrano said. If the homeowner does not respond or there is a delay in reaching an agreed upon price, DOT will continue construction and take the negotiation to court, so the project can continue on schedule. 

In the next several months, Serrano said they will begin analyzing what land needs to be acquired for the sidewalk construction this winter.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2012.