Baltimore County plans funded two‑lane roundabout at Honeygo Boulevard and Cross Road; officials propose temporary “flexi‑post” trial

Baltimore County Department of Public Works and Transportation officials told residents at a public meeting that the county will continue design and right‑of‑way acquisition for a funded two‑lane roundabout at Honeygo Boulevard and Cross Road and is proposing a temporary installation of flexible posts to restrict left and through movements from Cross Road while the roundabout is completed.

The county’s highway‑design chief, Virginia Collier, said the location currently carries about 20,000 vehicles per day on Honeygo Boulevard and roughly 1,800 vehicles per day on Cross Road, and that police‑recorded crash data show 17 crashes at the intersection in the past five years. “There’s been expressed safety concerns for those on Cross Road attempting to go straight or turn left on the Honeygo,” Collier said. She described a funded plan for a two‑lane roundabout, pedestrian refuge islands and landscaping, but said building that geometry requires purchasing additional right‑of‑way from nearby private properties and would take about two years to construct.

The county’s traffic division chief, Chris Niebrey, said engineers repeatedly evaluated the intersection in recent years (including 2019, 2022 and 2024) against the Federal Highway Administration signal warrants adopted into Maryland law and found the intersection does not meet any of the nine warrant categories. “If a signal is not warranted and is installed, it could increase excessive delays on both streets and increased rear‑end crashes,” Niebrey said.

Because the signal warrants were not met, and because engineers judged a signal would not correct the most common crash types at the site, the roundabout was proposed as the long‑term remedy. County Director Lauren Buckler said the roundabout is funded and “we are locked into the roundabout at this point,” but she and Collier encouraged public feedback on an interim option: flexible plastic posts mounted on the roadway to block straight‑through and left‑turn movements from Cross Road while allowing right turns.

Officials said the flexible‑post option can be installed quickly and would not require property acquisition. The county showed a nearby example on Perring Parkway at Satter Hill Road and presented modeled detour travel‑time increases of roughly 2–6 minutes depending on origin and destination. Buckler said the flexible posts could be installed temporarily, monitored for community response and safety impacts, and—if the community favored permanence—converted later to a concrete median.

Residents at the meeting voiced mixed reactions. Rick Williams, president of Windsor Condominium, said his development — the largest residential complex near the intersection — would accept a flexi‑post installation but asked the county to study and mitigate additional U‑turn traffic that could divert into condominium streets. Other residents raised concerns that flexi posts would force drivers from Forge Road and adjacent streets into U‑turns near Angel Park, a location residents said is busy with children and sports activities.

Residents also asked about alternative locations for signals, notably at Honeygo Boulevard and Gunpowder Farm Road, and the county said that intersection will be studied this fall. Officials reiterated that traffic‑signal warrants are governed by the federal/state prescribed process and that Baltimore County must follow those calculations when deciding whether a signal is allowed.

On next steps, county staff said they will continue the roundabout design and right‑of‑way negotiations with three property owners, explore and possibly trial the flexible‑post option in the coming months if the community wishes, and post the meeting recording and materials online. The county gave an email contact for further comments: highwaydesign@baltimorecountymd.gov.