TESTIMONY
MD 97
BROOKEVILLE TRANSPORTATION STUDY
LOCATION/DESIGN PUBLIC HEARING
BY
RICHARD S. ALLAN
PRESIDENT OF COMMISSIONERS
TOWN OF BROOKEVILLE
OCTOBER 3, 2001
Good evening. My name is Richard S. Allan. I am testifying here tonight in my capacity as President of Commissioners for the Town of Brookeville.

The public record with regard to the Brookeville Bypass is a lengthy one. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement that has been prepared by the Federal Highway Administration and the Maryland State Highway Administration as a required part of the Bypass study process notes Bypass discussions as far back as the 1960's. Those of us who have had immediate experience with the Bypass project as public officials certainly are acutely aware of the correspondence, town meetings, focus groups, special studies, consultants, bus and walking tours, interviews, videos, telephone calls, letters-to-the-editor, and in-your-face lobbying that has been a significant part of our work and lives for at least, in my case, almost the past twenty years. This location/design public hearing represents a major affirmation in my view of the importance of the values of perseverance and keeping on message.

The Town of Brookeville's message here tonight simply and succinctly put is build the Bypass now, locate it west of town, and take all due care to use what ever necessary resources are reasonably available to mitigate the socio-economic, cultural, and natural environmental impacts that might result. The bypass is crucial to the future of the town and its residents. There can be no argument about this fundamental statement of fact. Without the bypass, the Town of Brookeville will be utterly consumed by commuter and truck traffic gridlock with all its safety and health implications. As a viable community, Brookeville will wither away like a fallen leaf. We therefore strongly urge the State Highway Administrator, the State Secretary of Transportation, and the Governor to do everything within their collective means to expedite this project so that we may proceed with actual construction in the shortest possible timeframe.

I would like to briefly outline our views with respect to our recommendation for a Bypass alternate. The Town Commissioners believe that the Alternate 7 alignment represents the preferred placement or location for the Bypass. We have walked this particular alignment several times with State Highway Administration staff, local residents and representatives of citizen and homeowner associations, elected officials and their staff. We have asked many questions about how it would fit and what it would look like from people's homes, what it might sound like, how it would affect the Longwood ballfield, whether it could be designed to minimize its impact on the woodland and wetlands it would traverse. We have asked to what extent the roadway could be designed to accommodate and integrate the historic Newlin Mill Race and the proposed trailways to the Oakley Cabin with the Brookeville Historic District and its historic and natural assets, including the Reddy Branch Stream Valley Park. We have explored the various roundabout configurations and how they would affect traffic flow, especially east to west. The answers we received to our questions and from our discussions have provided the underlying reasons for our conclusion that Alternate 7 should be recommended to the State Highway Administrator.

We believe that alternate 7 would be least intrusive to residents immediately east and west of the project. I would note at this point a very unusual fact, almost an anomaly, that Town residents whose properties would be adjacent to Alternate 7 nonetheless have been supportive of building a Bypass from the very beginning. That isn't to imply that if they had their druthers, they wouldn't want the road somewhere else. They have understood realistically, however, that the importance of the project to the wider community transcended any individual concerns about such a road, even one near their own homes. I think that is really what community is all about and their support is commendable.

The Commissioners are satisfied that Alternate 7 can be designed and engineered and enhanced by various mitigation techniques to keep noise and visual impacts at a generally acceptable level to residents on both sides of the project. With regard to concerns raised by the Maryland Historic Trust on Historic District impact, we believe that these too can be reasonably mitigated. The Town itself sought historic preservation protections afforded under the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Ordinance the Town Commissioners enacted in 1985. We sought full inclusion of the Town's corporate boundaries in the resultant Historic District. This action supplemented the voluntary citizen-led efforts in 1979 to have Brookeville designated on the National Register of Historic Places. We did this in full recognition of the fact that we also as a matter of policy supported the western Bypass alternate in both our Comprehensive Master Plan and the Olney Master Plan. We don't see any irresolvable issues here.

The Commissioners also would specifically note their support of a roundabout at grade at Brookeville Road that would ensure smooth east-west and of course north-west traffic flow. We believe this would not have any particular negative impact on Brookeville Road. While Brookeville Road is an attractive rustic road, it has been and still is to some extent a working farm road. The subject roundabout would not make it less so. As Montgomery County plans to commence construction of a Bordly Drive extension to Rt. 97 during the summer of 2001, it is reasonable to speculate that most east- west traffic that now flows through Brookeville will opt to take the extension to Rt. 97 and ultimately the Brookeville Road roundabout south or west.

The Commissioners believe that it is vital that Alternate 7 be designed to maximize its potential to take advantage of, so to speak, to the degree possible, its location in park settings [although the úparkô land was set aside years earlier for use as a transportation corridor] in the midst of historic structures, trails, and archaeological remnants. We believe that through creative design and collaboration among all the different interests and agencies that a road can be constructed that will synergistically and positively impact on its surroundings and not just act as a one-dimensional conduit for vehicles.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the truly professional SHA project staff it has been our pleasure to work with over these many years. All have been a credit to the SHA and public employees anywhere.

Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify.  

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