Streetscape project in New Market renewed

Thursday, May 11, 2006

A pedestrian accident in downtown New Market Friday has re-ignited the town mayor’s drive for sidewalk “bump-outs“ to deter speed.

New Market Mayor Winslow Burhans said Monday he plans to push harder for curb extensions after a vehicle struck a pedestrian on Main Street. Though the pedestrian was not seriously hurt, Burhans said the incident demonstrated a need to improve safety downtown.

The New Market Streetscape Taskforce recently added curb extensions to its redesign proposal to deter speeding and make the streets safer for pedestrians.

‘‘We’re trying to be proactive,” Burhans said. ‘‘We have 10,000 vehicles coming through town now and anticipate 16,000 vehicles per day in the next decade. We’re trying to make our street safe.”

Rick Fleshman, president of the New Market Antique Dealers Association and former mayor, last week said a lack of serious accidents along Main Street showed that streetscape projects are unnecessary. Fleshman was unavailable to comment on the pedestrian accident before The Gazette’s press time this week.

Several antique dealers, during a heated April 26 streetscape meeting, said they wanted to maintain the town’s historic appearance by avoiding bump-outs. Both sides agreed that other speed reduction devices such as speed humps or speed bumps are not options because they would create obstacles for emergency vehicles.

Burhans said town leaders are looking into whether New Market would be removed from the Maryland Historical Trust’s register of historic towns if the bump-outs were placed on Main Street, as some people have suggested. He said similar features in nearby towns such as Boonsboro have not pushed them off the registry.

“We can’t understand why everyone else is fighting us on wanting to something to make the street reasonably safe,” Burhans said. ‘‘...We’re having a hard time understanding this whole [Maryland Historical Trust] aspect when we’re seeing [bump outs] in other historical places and can demonstrate there is a need.”