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Garrett County forwards transportation priority letter, seeks funding for US 220 extension, shared-use paths and trails
Summary
The county planning staff outlined a multi-project transportation priority letter—led by a US 220 extension request and including shared-use paths on Maryland 135, Traders Landing safety work, transit capital, Oakland Bypass, and multi-use trails—and the planning commission voted to forward the prioritized list to county commissioners for final approval.
Garrett County planning staff presented a packaged list of transportation priorities April 2 and the planning commission voted to forward the list and related Pathways recommendations to the county commissioners for final approval.
Speaker 6, who led the presentation, said the county’s top request is funding for detailed engineering on the US 220 North extension to the Pennsylvania state line; PennDOT has submitted an environmental review to the Federal Highway Administration and the county is asking MDOT to keep the project in the pipeline. "We're requesting MDOT to allocate funding for detailed engineering and moving that project forward," Speaker 6 said.
The priority letter also lists corridor safety improvements in front of Trader's Landing (the "02/19" corridor), where staff and commissioners discussed options including one-way access, pedestrian islands, restriping, and potential turning lanes into businesses such as Uno's and Arrowhead. Commissioners noted existing angled parking and multiple conflict points make the corridor hazardous; speakers recommended interim restriping and islands while larger reconstruction awaits funding and pavement-boring results.
Other projects on the prioritized list include a Graceville sidewalk connection (US 40 to River Road), capital support for expanded Garrett Transit fixed-route service, continued inclusion of the long-term Oakland Bypass, and a Maryland 135 shared-use path proposal with curb separation in places and new crossings. Speaker 6 described a network of bikeways and greenways linking towns, parks and schools and said the county requested engineering funds to refine alignments and minimize private-property impacts.
Recreation and trail projects featured in the packet included a Bradford Veil mountain-bike skills area, an accessible fishing trail at Bradford Lake (ADA-compliant access and living-shoreline elements) and Meadow Mountain Trail improvements that previously had a congressional earmark. For the Oakland–Herring Park Trail alternatives, staff said the preferred alignments produced a roughly 10-mile singletrack route; cost estimates discussed were ballpark figures—Speaker 6 said trail construction might be "1 and a half million ish" and that a river bridge could be "a couple million dollars." The planning staff encouraged public comments via the county story map (garrettcountymd.gov/pathways) and said consultants will finalize recommendations before grant applications.
After discussion, Speaker 3 moved and Speaker 6 seconded a motion to forward the priority letter and Pathways recommendations to the county commissioners for final approval; the commission voted in favor.
Next steps: planning staff will meet with mayors, finalize the priority letter as needed, and transmit the prioritized list to the commissioners for their formal action and potential edits.
