A 2-mile stretch of Route 3 in Crofton, known for its terrible traffic, is scheduled for an upgrade in 2027.

County Executive Steuart Pittman first heard of the problem when he was campaigning in 2018. The area around Route 3 is zoned for both residential and commercial development and has seen major growth since the road was built, resulting in a significant increase in traffic.

“We’re going around the county and looking at what was planned and what people wanted that never got done, and we found there were decades of state highway plans to address the traffic on Route 3 and none of those plans had ever come close,” said Pittman.

But now the county has allocated $6.2 million for the project in its capital budget, with $900,000 of it coming in the current fiscal year.

The project is expected to cost approximately $35 million, and Anne Arundel County is covering 20% with the state paying for the rest.

State engineers are redesigning a 2-mile stretch of Route 3 just south of the Interstate 97 exchange. The goal is to break ground in 2027.

The design, which was unveiled at a community meeting in February, sees three lanes, going north and south, starting at Waugh Chapel Road until Annapolis Road.

In addition to a second right turn lane from Annapolis Road to Crain Highway, there will be a bike and walking path running from the South Shore Trail to Millersville Road.”

“It’s a high priority, building the transportation network of multimodal transportation,” said Pittman. “Our hope is that as we build it out, for people living along that corridor now, it will become feasible to not get in your car and to use those paths.”

After multiple attempts to get a project addressing Route 3 traffic off the ground, county transportation and public works staff consider this a priority, Pittman said.

“We’re not going to let this project die,” he said.

Have a news tip? Contact Bridget Byrne at bbyrne@baltsun.com, 443-690-7205 and x.com/brdgtbyrn.