Reliance Road traffic issues occupy County’s attention

It may be a hot rod – but take it to the track if you think you’re a race car driver! Public Domain Photos

Reliance Road along Warren County’s northwest boundary with Frederick County was a hot topic at Tuesday’s (Feb. 21) Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting.  First, four residents of a subdivision off Reliance Road alerted the supervisors to a neighborhood youth and his friend’s hot-rodding activities in and out of their neighborhood.

Later, the Warren supervisors voted approval of a proposed tractor-trailer ban on Reliance between Route 340/522 and Interstate 81 in Frederick County.

Staff told the supervisors the Frederick County Board was to consider approval of the ban at its meeting the following night.  Both county boards must endorse the ban since it crosses county lines.

Big rigs keep on rolling – but maybe not down Reliance Road for much longer.

If Frederick follows Warren’s lead, those endorsements will be forwarded to the Commonwealth Transportation Board for final action on the ban.  If approved by the state, the proposed and closest alternate route for tractor trailers between Route 340/522 and Interstate-81 would be I-66 to the south.

As for the neighborhood hot-rodding, residents along Carly’s Way said they had serious safety concerns with cars revving loudly in and out of the neighborhood onto or from Reliance Road.  While they indicated they knew the youth the group of hot-rodders were gathering around, they did not identify him.

However, one woman said she had called the youth’s mother seeking assistance in bringing the situation under control, but met, “with strong aggression – it was not the response I was hoping for,” she told the board.

Another concerned neighbor said the crew that had gathered around the neighborhood youth crossed an age spectrum, with participants in the hot-rodding ranging in age up to what they estimated to be 40.

“These are not car enthusiasts, people who restore a car and care for it – these are racing enthusiasts trying to relive the experience of a competition” one neighbor observed of what he has witnessed.

That the Carly Way residents had at least one board member’s ear became apparent when North River Supervisor Dan Murray later commented that his wife, recovering from a recent medical situation, had been awakened repeatedly by similar late-night hot rodding.