11/08/2006

Getting to Know – Joe Green

By Dolores E. Pike

"I felt like I hit the lottery. I feel the million dollars will provide for the safety of the public up and down Route 589," said Joseph W. Green, Jr., chairman of STAR 589.

Mr. Green was referring to the announcement on October 27 from the office of Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. allocating $1 million to the State Highway Administration (SHA) to begin the planning phase for Route 589.

Expecting to call a meeting of his committee later this month, Mr. Green is anxious to get started on the project. He will begin by gathering input from the STAR 589 (Safe Travel Along Route 589) group. He wants to know what their expectations are and how the $1 million, which he says has been placed in the state's budget for next year, might best be allocated.

As far as addressing some immediate problems on Route 589 Mr. Green wants to contact those people with authority at Internet mapping sources to see if they can be dissuaded from directing travelers from Route 113 onto Route 589, adding unnecessarily to the congestion on a local road. Another issue he feels might be reviewed by the SHA is whether the white limit line for stopped traffic turning left from Route 589 at Taylor Bank into Cathell Road can be moved back a few feet. If so, he believes this would allow large vehicles turning left from Cathell Road onto Route 589 a wider turning radius.

Mr. Green wants to see if anything can be done to curb construction on Route 589 until "we see what plans there are for the road." Currently a small complex consisting of five offices is scheduled to begin construction across from the Racetrack Road Garage.

As quickly as information becomes available on Route 589, Mr. Green promises to make it available to residents, either through a press release or by holding public meetings. "I feel very good about the citizens being involved," he said. Now that the project is underway with some seed money behind it he believes people will be anxious to keep it moving along, helping however they can to keep the project before the SHA so it will not stall. He also believes that a lot was learned with the prolonged amount of time it is taking to complete the dualization of Route 113.

When asked how he came to chair the Star 589 group Mr. Green relates that it was the outcome of attending a meeting held by Bob Hulburd, chairman of CRASH (County Residents Action for Safe Highways) at the Ocean Pines library.

According to Mr. Green at their first meeting on May 22 after a group of volunteers agreed to be on the STAR 589 committee "everyone looked at me and asked if I would like to be chairperson" and that was it. He credits Bob Hulburd for the much-appreciated guidance provided to the newly formed group.

Having owned property in Ocean Pines since 1978 when they bought a home in North Pines, Mr. Green has witnessed a great deal of change on Route 589. He and his wife Betty now live in the Parke, where he is on the operations committee in charge of storm water management.

During the latter part of the 33 years that he worked for the Washington, DC District government he served in the department of flooding and erosion control. "My career has been very beneficial for me especially in helping out in the Parke. I was never one to volunteer but I could see problems coming up in the Parke with the flooding and the (overflowing) ditches. I told the operations committee that I had experience in erosion and flooding control and I would like to take on the task. I worked with the builder Centex, the developer and the county inspector. Currently everything seems to be working very well. There are a few problems still and I'm working on them right now with the county inspector," said Mr. Green who is also a member of the Worcester County Zoning Board. He was appointed a year ago by Commissioner Judy Boggs.

With the number of businesses and residences under construction, two schools and two major churches served by Route 589, Mr. Green expects more people will publicly support STAR 589 in the effort to get this important artery off, what Mr. Green calls, "life-support."

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