Responding to Howard County residents after a pair of well-publicized fatal crashes, the State Highway Administration said it will launch an $800,000 project Sunday to add new left-turn lanes at three intersections along Route 32 north of Interstate 70.

The highway agency said it will build the new turn lanes on Maryland 32 at the intersections with Day Road, Amberwoods Way and the southern end of River Road – all of which lie between Old Frederick Road (Route 99) and the Carroll County line.

The state also plans to add a new 0.6-mile center lane with left-turn arrows serving Emory Farm Lane, Coventry Meadows Drive, Indian Hill Drive and Heritage Farms Court.

The selection of a date to start work follows the state’s announcement action of its plans for Route 32 improvements last month. Local residents had demanded action after two recent fatal crashes involving attempts to make left turns off the busy state highway, which narrows to two lanes north of Clarksburg despite traffic volumes estimated at 23,000 a day in the section slated for the work.

On Sept. 10, Dr. Brian Emery, a Sykesville physician, was killed when he was rear-ended as he tried to turn from northbound Route 32 onto Amberwoods. His car was forced into the southbound lanes and was hit by a pickup truck.

Two months earlier, about 200 yards from that site at River Road, Kyong Hae Kim of Sykesville and her 13-year-old son, Vincent Woodward, died when the Mazda van she was driving was struck by a tow truck as she attempted a left turn.

The highway agency said it hopes to finish the project by December if weather permits. It said workers will close a single lane of Route 32 between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., Sundays through Thursdays. Other work will be done during the day between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, when flaggers will direct traffic.