AASHTO Journal, 25 September 2015
From now until mid-November, motorists using eastern Maryland’s Shore Highway in Caroline County will face a two-mile work zone, as the end of yearly beach traffic allows the state Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration to replace a road surface that has not been completely rebuilt since 1998.
The agency said it was launching the $2.5 million project “now that schools are back in session and the vacation season is nearing the end for many people.”
That is an example of how state DOTs use as much of the construction calendar as possible, juggling seasonal highway demand with infrastructure repairs to lessen traffic disruption as construction gets under way.
The nightly work will grind out the top layer of asphalt, then resurface and restripe the two-mile section of MD 404 between the Choptank River Bridge and Legion Road in Denton.
This section of MD 404 in Denton has an average daily traffic volume of 25,000 vehicles daily, though traffic is significantly lighter at night. Weather permitting, the project should be completed by late fall, the SHA said.
“The pavement on MD 404 along the eastern edge of Denton has outlived its life and needs to be resurfaced to provide a smoother ride for the thousands of motorists who use MD 404 each day,” said District Engineer Greg Holsey. Crews will work between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., using use cones, barrels and arrow boards to guide traffic through the work zone around single-lane closures.
“We ask that motorists slow down in the work zone for their protection, as well as our crew’s safety,” Holsey said.
The Shore Highway work is not the only paving project in eastern Maryland. The SHA also has nearly $900,000 in less extensive resurfacing work going on this fall in the Upper Eastern Shore.
Rather than cut out the old asphalt, a contractor is applying a “fog seal” to extend the life of existing asphalt and slow pavement deterioration in four projects. The SHA said that work should be completed by late autumn.
