Traffic Flow

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A Jefferson County official suggested Thursday that the county should explore the possibility of building a new road on the Blue Ridge Mountain that would help handle a potential wave of traffic from a disaster like a terrorist attack. If a terrorist attack or some other emergency occurred in one of the nearby metropolitan areas to the East, traffic coming over the mountain likely would be overwhelming, Jefferson County Commissioner Greg Corliss said. Not only would travel over the mountain be difficult, but people who live there would be hampered from traveling as well, Corliss said.

Four traffic circles in the north end will soon be updated with yield signs. The Hagerstown City Council agreed Tuesday to remove stop signs from traffic circles on East Magnolia and East Irvin avenues and replace them with yield signs. The circles are at the intersections of East Magnolia Avenue and Mealey Parkway; East Irvin Avenue and Mealey Parkway; East Irvin Avenue, Valley Brook Drive and View Street; and East Irvin Avenue and East Magnolia. City Engineer Rodney Tissue said that most traffic circles are marked with yield signs, not stop signs.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Waynesboro's Downtown Revitalization and Street committees will be forwarding their ideas to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on how a revamped Center Square should look, Council President C. Harold Mumma said Wednesday. Borough businessman Harry Morningstar Jr. addressed the council, asking what steps had been taken since August, when he presented the council with sketches of how the square might look once the transportation department finishes its $1.2 million project to replace and synchronize traffic lights along Main Street to improve traffic flow.

laurae@herald-mail.com Sen. Alex X. Mooney is seeing red. After his car was stolen last month, Mooney got two citations in the mail because the thief who took his car was caught on camera running two red lights. Now Mooney has to go to court to prove himself innocent of the violations, which carry fines of $50 and $75. "In the American justice system, a person is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. This turns that on its head," he said. Mooney, R-Frederick/Washington, filed legislation this week to ban the red-light cameras in Maryland.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A $350,000 project will upgrade the interior of The Shook Home and change its South Second Street exterior. There are two phases to renovations at the 64-bed nursing home that has been a fixture in the borough for nearly 75 years, said Edward Parks, chief executive officer. Work began a couple of weeks ago on the first resident's room, including dry walling, painting, wall papering, adding a dropped ceiling and new heating and air conditioning units, he said.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Residents, downtown merchants, Borough Council members and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials ringed Public Square Monday night trying to imagine, through the use of orange highway department cones, how it would look if the sidewalks were moved up to the traffic corridor. Such a plan would eliminate about a dozen angled parking spaces that serve two banks and a handful of businesses that line the square. Affected merchants oppose the idea, as do many borough residents who see the square as a landmark to local history.

tarar@herald-mail.com After about a year of planning for Antietam National Battlefield's annual Salute to Independence, there's usually one sight that makes park Superintendent John Howard feel a little relieved. "I always like to see the stage go up, because then I know it's going to happen," Howard said Thursday, while looking over a section of the battlefield that is expected to be packed Saturday with 35,000 to 40,000 spectators. The Maryland Symphony Orchestra will perform an Independence Day concert to be followed by fireworks.

Hunt Field raises traffic concerns By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The 25,000 additional car trips that the Hunt Field development is expected to generate caused concern among two Charles Town City Council members Monday night. Council member Bill Jordan said a traffic count conducted recently shows about 11,000 cars pass through the downtown area during a 24-hour period. Sometimes it takes five minutes to get a break in traffic to pull onto Washington Street, Jordan said.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com Twelve years ago, when planning for the widening of a three-mile stretch of U.S. 30 east of Chambersburg began, the cost of construction was estimated at $6.4 million. Bids for the project are scheduled to go out this winter, but inflation over the last dozen years has boosted the estimated construction cost to $22 million. Jeffrey P. Weaver, assistant district engineer for PennDOT's District 8, told about 60 people gathered for the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce's 2002 Legislative Forum on transportation in Franklin County on Friday that the total cost to widen the road is estimated at $29 million.

LEETOWN, W.Va. - A 14-year-old Bunker Hill, W.Va., girl was taken to Winchester (Va.) Medical Center on Friday afternoon after she was ejected from a Ford Explorer that collided with a tour bus on Old Leetown Pike in Jefferson County, police and emergency officials said. West Virginia State Police Trooper J.C. Moon said he needed to speak with a supervising officer before releasing the name of the girl, who emergency responders found in the middle of the road near a residence at 1087 Old Leetown Pike.