New Traffic Operation Center Aims to Ease Traffic Woes

The governor has given more than $1 million towards a new center to help ease your worst transportation woes. If youve ever sat in the early morning gridlock on Interstates 270 or 70, you know Frederick County, Maryland connects commuters to two major metropolitan areas. Its one reason Maryland is opening a traffic operations center in town and their main objective is to serve you, the driver. "In this area, traffic is growing dramatically, between 1995 and 2004 its increased by 40 percent," said Robert Flanagan, Maryland Secretary of Transportation. Its almost double the number of cars on the road, not to mention the number of accidents. "These small accidents, if they are not removed can then create a back up that causes everything to slow down," said Col. Thomas Hutchins, from Maryland State Police. While youre keeping an eye on the road every morning, the new traffic operations center is now keeping an eye on you. When an accident occurs, traffic officials can spot it faster than you can dial 9-1-1. "We can notify the appropriate people, and get things rolling," said Mike Farmm from the operations center. "And respond towards incidents where backups are beginning to build up, just in case there is a small fender bender which can turn into multiple fender benders," said Hutchins. "We can make a lot of headway and a lot of improvements for the lives of our citizens, by clearing congestion," said Flanagan. In addition to keeping you safe, this $1.1 million operation will help get you to work on time. Reported by Cara Sinclair" Area Teens Helping Other Teens Stop Smoking,1152565408,1152565408,"[img align=left]http://www.nbc25.com/main/uploads/sabraham_1152566745_smoking-harrisburg.gif[/img]WAYNESBORO, PA- In Waynesboro, a group of kids are working to keep other kids from smoking. They said theyve seen first hand what effect it can have on their lives and they want to help extinguish the problem.