Summer is gone and school is about to start again. There will be some changes in town this year:

The Union Bridge Area Recreation Council is offering adult competitive volleyball on Thursday nights at Elmer Wofe Elementary School Starting August 30 at 7 p.m. Volleyball is also offered at New Windsor Middle School on Monday nights starting September 10 at 7 p.m. For more information, call Steve Keeney at 410-775-7780.

The town has been approved for $43,000 in Maryland Program Open Space (POS) grant funds for July 1, 2001. These funds will be used to construct a new footbridge over little Pipe Creek and new steps and handrails at the little baseball diamond. The town is also applying for an additional $35,000 in grant funds to install new playground equipment at the park. To finish up the town's 2000 POS grant program, new signs will be installed throughout the park.

The Main Street Committee will be meeting to review several design alternatives for the patterned concrete sidewalks and street lamps. In addition, we will be designing new welcome signs for the north and south entrances into town. The next major step in the process is to secure final construction funding from the State Highway Administration. We will also submit a grant application to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

You may be wondering what decision was reached by the SHA regarding the town’s traffic signal at Broadway. The State has decided that prior to removing the traffic signal altogether, it will install a 24-hour flashing signal for a three-month period beginning sometime in September 2001. This will allow the State to monitor the intersection, and analyze changes that will be installed to improve sight distance and visibility.

Arro Consulting Inc., town engineers, have completed the bid specifications for construction of a new elevated water tank at West Locust Street (to replace the existing tank), and several new water mains to be constructed in Main Street, Elger Street, Locust Street, White Street, and Lehigh Drive. These projects will be advertised for bids sometime in the next few weeks. Construction should begin in the early spring, depending on final approval from Rural Utilities Services, USDA, the funding agency.

Final loan and grant funds have been approved by the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, for the extension of new public sewer service to North Main Street (north of the elementary school), Union Bridge Road, Bark Hill Road, and Honeysuckle Lane. Construction may begin in the late fall of 2001.