Montgomery County firefighters are paying their respects to Green Valley Fire Department Battalion Chief Joshua Laird (Frederick County), who died on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, while responding to a two alarm house fire in the 9500 block of Ball Road in Ijamsville, Maryland.
The ceremonial procession transferring Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services fallen firefighter, Station 25, Green Valley Fire Department Battalion Chief Joshua Laird, started at noon today and many will see Montgomery County Fire and Rescue paying their respects on highway overpasses between noon and 1pm.
The first phase of the procession will start at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 401 East Street SW DC and will end at the Myers-Durboraw Funeral Home, located at 136 East Baltimore Street, in Taneytown, Maryland.
The second phase of the procession will start at the Myers-Durboraw Funeral Home and end at the Monahan Funeral Home, located at 27 East Main Street, Fairfield, PA.
Below are a few pictures, taken by a passenger, of MCFRS on overpasses on I-270.
I-495 and I-270 Managed Lanes Study: Let Your Voice Be Heard
So many of us know the feeling of being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams on I-270 during rush hour. In 2019, a study by Texas A&M University found that the average DC-area car commuter spends 102 hours a year in traffic, which puts it in the top three of metro areas in the entire nation.
The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) is seeking to address these concerns through the I-495 and I-270 Managed Lanes Study. This study, a part of Governor Larry Hogan’s Traffic Relief Plan, hopes to find a solution to the traffic congestion on I-495 and I-270. MD’s DOT is working in cooperation with the Montgomery County Planning Board and other government entities to sort the best step forward for traffic congestion solutions.
A major portion of this process involves taking public comment from citizens concerned with the process; the Maryland Department of Transportation has set up an online page for comments to be shared. The MD DOT tells us that they are accepting comments through Monday, November 9th, 2020. To share your opinion on the traffic congestion situation (and your solutions) on our highways, you can visit the MD DOT’s study webpage here.
