West Nursery Road Transportation Facility Planning Study Anne Arundel County, Maryland

West Nursery Road is an important transportation corridor connecting the Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport, Baltimore Washington Parkway (MD 295), Interstate 695 and Interstate 97. Requested by Anne Arundel County, ATCS conducted a Transportation Facility Planning Study that identified the need for roadway improvements within the corridor, and proposed alternatives to accommodate future traffic growth because of major expansion of the BWI Technological Park under FY 2030 conditions.

Eight (8) intersections and one (1) interchange between Hammonds Ferry Road and Elkridge Road along the West Nursery Road corridor were thoroughly evaluated from different perspectives. Specifically, ATCS completed the following:

Built Synchro models to evaluate the existing roadway capacity and traffic operation conditions

  • Identified future traffic operations under 2030 no-build conditions using Synchro
  • Inventoried pedestrian/bike facilities and evaluated LOS
  • Evaluated intermodal connectivity
  • Inventoried pavement conditions based on field visits
  • Conducted traffic safety analyses and identified “hot spots” within the corridor

Additionally, based on traffic engineering study results, ATCS’ traffic engineering team jointly worked with the design team to preliminarily develop three (3) levels of alternatives along the corridor. The alternatives included low-cost options such as signal optimization; medium-cost options such as turn bay extensions and additions; and high-cost options such as MD 295 interchange improvements. The conceptual plans were submitted to the County for further study.