Photo by Sam Yu Over 40 percent of Frederick workers travel out of the county, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. One of the most used roads is I-270. This is a half-second time exposure with zoom where I-270 ends and becomes U.S. 15 in Frederick on Wednesday evening.

Some travel to jobs in Frederick while 41.1 percent of commuters travel on I-270 and I-70 to head out of town for the workday.

But to Nancy Norris, assistant director for TransIT, the city and county mass transportation agency, it's not where people go but how they get there that makes all the difference.

"Anybody that travels down 270 will attest to a need" for different ways to commute," she said.

The average time Frederick County residents took to get to work was 31.9 minutes in 2000, according to the Census Bureau. Almost 13 percent of the county's commuters spent between an hour and an hour and a half getting to work.

All that time on the road can be expensive, prompting some to use TransIT's ride-matching services or public transportation.

Ms. Norris said travel times can be decreased with the use of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes for carpoolers.

Census data shows that 12.4 percent of Frederick County commuters used carpools in 2000.

TransIT estimates that commuters who carpool to work can save $8,190 annually, and as much as $9,732 with vanpools.

"It's kind of shocking when you see it like that -- how much money people could actually save," Ms. Norris said.

In 1980, ride-sharing programs were just becoming popular. The state encouraged carpooling as a result of the 1970s energy crisis.

According to the state's 1980-1985 Consolidated Transportation Program report, carpooling and vanpooling were gaining popularity, and a survey showed an increase in use of Maryland carpool lots from 56 percent to 92 percent in one year.

Ms. Norris said in recent years a significant number of people have expressed interest in ride-sharing.

TransIT partners with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to provide Commuter Connections, a database that helps commuters find others with similar daily travel routes.

In August, Ms. Norris said, 1,000 Frederick County commuters were listed in the TransIT ride-sharing database.

Mass TransIT

According to David Olney, engineering technician for Frederick County's Department of Public Works, mass transportation hasn't changed much in the last 25 years.

"If you go back 50 or 75 years, there were electric trolleys, and I think there was a larger portion of people using the train or the railroads," he said.

In 1977, Frederick city took over busing operations from a private contractor, Ms. Norris said.

In 1993, the city system was combined with the county-run Transerv to create TransIT, which now operates the bus system.

While only 1.4 percent of Frederick County's commuters used public transportation to get to work in 2000, Ms. Norris said bus ridership has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.

"Our ridership has grown by about 20 percent over each of the last three years," she said.

Because of that, TransIT added peak-hour service in November 2003, roughly doubling the number of buses available during the morning and evening commutes.

In 2005, a fleet of 57 vehicles -- about twice the size of the 1994 fleet -- made 553,344 one-way passenger trips.

Ms. Norris said projecting what transportation will look like in Frederick County in 2030 is difficult.

"You don't know what's going to happen with gas prices or other changes that are going to be on the horizon, as far as development will be," she said.

Significant traffic should continue in the years to come, Ms. Norris said. As housing prices in Frederick County increase, people with move farther out, thus increasing their travel time to work.

"I don't know how much the road can change to accommodate additional people," she said. "They need to consider that there are other alternatives to driving a car."

The future of commuting in Frederick

In 2001, MARC train service was added to Frederick to ease congestion on I-270. The station has three departures and arrivals each day.

Ms. Norris said she has received feedback from MARC riders who would like more trains.

About 130 people board the MARC in downtown Frederick and 200 board at the Monocacy stop south of the city limits each morning.

Holly Ellison, spokesperson for the Maryland Transit Administration, said lack of equipment and CSX railroad traffic prevent the addition of more trains.

No additional stops are planned for the MARC between Frederick and Washington, but Adamstown would be the next logical place for a station in Frederick County, Ms. Ellison said.

She expects to see overall MARC ridership grow by 2 to 4 percent per year.

"As the population, fuel prices and congestion on the I-270 corridor increases, the MTA expects more drivers to take the MARC trains as an alternative form of transportation," she said.

In the immediate future, traffic burdens might be lightened as two construction projects begin in Frederick County.

The Maryland Department of Transportation's State Highway Administration broke ground on a project to create a new ramp connection from Md. 26 west to U.S. 15 north.

Average daily traffic on U.S. 15 south of Md. 26 is expected to increase from 70,150 vehicles per day in 2004 to 143,000 in 2030. In 1980 that number was 26,300.

The $3 million project is expected to be complete in the fall of 2006.

Another project includes the construction of a new bridge for Md. 355 over I-70.

The project is part of an effort to decrease congestion by allowing motorists to enter the city via routes other than Market Street.

Traffic counts on I-70 east of Md. 355 were 76,650 vehicles per day in 2004, more than double the 1980 count.

By 2030 the average daily traffic is expected to be 127,500 vehicles on that road.