Ground will be broken on construction of a new Halethorpe MARC station on April 4, Del. James Malone (D-12A) announced to members of the Halethorpe Improvement Association Tuesday night.

"We'll have a ribbon-cutting ceremony on a brand-new station," Malone said. "It will be absolutely beautiful, and it will be handicapped-accessible."

According to an article in Greater Greater Washington, the new station will have two 700-foot long high platforms, and take about two years to build at a cost of about $17.1 million.

MARC has also arranged to acquire 80 more parking spaces on the property around a medical center building across Southwestern Boulevard, Malone said, to ease a parking shortage among commuters that is expected to become more acute as gas prices rise.

Malone also said that he requested the State Highway Administration to install a temporary traffic light at the intersection of Linden and Southwestern Boulevard, next to the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department.

"We're starting to get a lot of accidents at that intersection when the train lets out," he said. "It's happening more and more, and we need to address the problem."

During rush hour, the light will be coordinated with the light at Linden and East Drive, to facilitate the movement of traffic through Arbutus headed to the northbound beltway ramp. At other times the light would blink red.

The long-term solution may be incorporated into existing plans to widen the beltway, Malone said. One scenario is to remove the ramp from the outer loop of the beltway onto Southwestern Boulevard and replace it with a ramp headed northbound on the inner loop. The northbound ramp on Leeds Avenue would also be removed, according to Malone.