Charles County commissioners approved a new 40 mph school zone along St. Charles Parkway on Tuesday, a year after Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School opened without a working traffic signal at its main intersection — and just weeks before that signal is finally expected to go live.
The vote covers the stretch of St. Charles Parkway near St. David Drive, where the school sits in White Plains. County planning staff told commissioners that utility poles for the long-awaited signal went in this month, and that Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, which controls the energization timeline, has given a tentative early-October target for the signal to become fully operational — likely within the first two weeks of the month, though the county said that date is outside its control.
Thornton Elementary opened for the 2025-26 school year, named for a longtime Charles County educator credited with helping integrate kindergarten into the local school system. The signal was planned alongside the school’s opening but was delayed by construction complications county staff described as no single party’s fault. In the meantime, the county’s traffic safety committee — which held two emergency meetings this year, commissioners noted — worked with the school system, the developer and the Sheriff’s Office on interim measures: a digital speed-feedback sign, a speed trailer, a recommended right-turn-only pattern for drivers leaving the neighborhood, and a consolidated public-reporting channel through the county’s C-Click platform.
Commissioner Amanda Stewart, whose granddaughter attends the school, told staff the intersection has drawn constant community concern over the past year, with school staff regularly asking when the signal was coming. She pushed back on one part of staff’s proposal: rather than limiting the new 40 mph limit to designated school hours, she argued it should apply at all times, since after-school activities and a playground near the school keep pedestrian traffic heavy well past the school day — comparing it to a 6 p.m. cutoff used near Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary. Staff agreed to bring the request back for reconsideration rather than resolving it Tuesday. Commissioners ultimately approved the school-zone designation itself unanimously.
The zone, covering the section of St. Charles Parkway between the St. Anastasia and St. Christopher neighborhood entrances, draws its authority from Charles County Code Chapter 287-13 and the Maryland Transportation Code, which together let local governments designate school zones within a half-mile of any school. Staff also flagged additional interim fixes already made along St. David Drive, including a refreshed, faded crosswalk near the school’s traffic circle and a newly marked crosswalk at the school’s front entrance, requested earlier this year by the school principal, that had previously gone unmarked.
The permanent traffic signal, crosswalks, pedestrian refuge island and updated signage are all expected to be complete once SMECO energizes the new signal. Until then, county staff said they’ll continue monitoring the interim measures and adjusting them as needed.
