About 35 Arnold residents and local business owners turned out last night to hear the plan to remedy the safety hazard of: U-turns through the intersection's median; distant left turns from the side streets across highway traffic, and shotgun attempts to cross Ritchie Highway from one end of Joyce Lane to the other.

But many walked away angry and frustrated to learn that instead of a traffic signal, the administration would install a Z-crossover, or a curb system shaped like a Z in the median, that would force side-street traffic on West and East Joyce Lane to only make right-hand turns onto Ritchie Highway. Alternately, it also only allows left-hand turns from either direction of Ritchie Highway onto Joyce Lane.

Tina Palmer, who is co-owner of Arnold Farms with her husband, was shocked a traffic light was not in the proposal. She said she didn't believe the Z-crossover system would work but hoped "no one would have to die to prove it."

"You have to live this intersection to understand it," Mrs. Palmer said.

SHA officials will observe the intersection after installing the system, which SHA assistant district engineer Kimberly Tran said will be implemented before schools go in session. If the improvements do not decrease close calls and accidents, she said, engineers will reassess the project.

County police have said 10 crashes have occurred at or near the intersection just within the last year. That number does not include the tally of fender-benders and less-critical accidents that were not reported to them.

Ms. Tran said the flexible-post system in the median will alleviate some of the right-of-way confusion that causes many of the accidents.

"Everybody right now is jockeying for position, and nobody knows whose turn it is to go," she said.

Though left-hand turns out of Joyce Lane into northbound or southbound traffic will be eliminated with the new system, U-turns on Ritchie Highway are still an option with the plan.

Among the attendees at the meeting were several former victims and relatives of victims.

Jill Crutchfield, a former resident on Joyce Lane, lost her mother in 1989 from an accident at the intersection.

"My dad misjudged and tried to crossover," she said, remembering the day of her parents' collision. "This is so upsetting. They need to do what they've done in Severna Park."

Ms. Tran said installing a traffic signal was not an option because the side-street traffic did not meet the national requirements, volume-wise, to warrant it. An additional light on Ritchie Highway would also result in more high-speed, rear-end accidents, which can also be fatal, she said.

Many attendees were incredulous. They said they are concerned a new Safeway supermarket, and a condominium project near the intersection that will soon be developed, will cause more traffic congestion, which is one more reason for a traffic light.

Greg Welker, SHA District 5 engineer, said the median remedy was the best option at this stage and that major construction projects, such as building additional turning lanes along Ritchie Highway, would require a different funding mechanism.

The money for large-scale projects would have to come from the Maryland Department of Transportation's Consolidated Transportation Program - a fund that is falling short right now, due to less gas taxes collected statewide, he said.

MDOT officials will travel around the state, county to county, this fall to receive each district's priority list of projects, Mr. Welker said.

Meanwhile, he advises residents to contact their County Council representatives if they would like the intersection to take precedence.

But the federal Base Realignment and Closure process, the widening Route 175 and improving Route 198, will likely top Anne Arundel County's list this year, he said.

Del. Ron George, R-Arnold, the one elected official present, said police enforcement of traffic laws was also a necessary aspect of making the intersection safer.

"I think this is a good first step," he said. "But I'm concerned about the people who live on Joyce Lane. It's very short. The chance of them getting in an accident is very high."