Alternate Routes

RANSON, W.Va. -- West Virginia State Police will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint overnight Saturday. The following locations will be affected: o W.Va. 51 east, near the intersection with Leetown Road in Kearneysville, W.Va., in front of Harding's Service Center. Alternate routes will be Leetown Road, W.Va. 9 and North Child's Road. o W.Va. 9 east, within the city limits of Ranson, underneath the new W.Va. 9 bypass bridge approximately one-tenth of a mile west of Wiltshire Road.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The Charles Town Police Department will establish a sobriety checkpoint from 8 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday on the 500 block of East Washington Street in Charles Town. Alternate routes will include Jefferson Avenue, and Mildred and George streets.

The city of Hagerstown will pave East Baltimore Street today and Friday. Sections of the roadway will be closed to all traffic during the day to allow the work to be completed. The city asks motorists to use alternate routes.

Due to the replacement of the traffic signal, Lockheed Martin began working on Salem Avenue at the intersection of Burhans Boulevard on Monday. The work will continue through Friday, June 18, between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Traffic flow on Salem Avenue and Burhans Boulevard will be altered throughout the week. Congestion is anticipated. Access to local residences and businesses will be maintained. Motorists are recommended to use alternate routes.

The Martinsburg Police Department and members of the West Virginia State Police have announced plans to stage two sobriety checkpoints this weekend. Beginning at 10 p.m. on Saturday, state police will be conducting a checkpoint along U.S. 11 near Evans Run Drive south of Martinsburg, according to a news release. The checkpoint will continue until 4 a.m., Sunday. Martinsburg police will be doing a checkpoint beginning at midnight on Saturday and running through 5 a.m. in the 1200 block of North Queen Street.

The eastbound lane of Antietam Street will be closed to through traffic between Walnut Street and Summit Avenue beginning Monday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to facilitate the cleaning and painting of 100 S. Prospect St. The lane closure will be in effect through Saturday. Motorists approaching the work area might encounter barricades, detour signs and traffic control devices, and are advised to consider alternate routes to avoid the area. In order to complete the work, the westbound lane of Antietam Street in this block also might be closed Sept.

Work crews from C. William Hetzer Inc. will begin milling and repaving Virginia Avenue between Howard Street and Park Circle on Monday at 7 a.m., weather permitting, according to a press release from the City of Hagerstown's Engineering & Inspections Department. Motorists approaching the work area should expect to encounter flag people, temporary lane closures and traffic control devices, according to the release. Motorists are advised that traffic delays are likely near the work area, and that alternate routes should be considered, according to the release.

Work will interrupt traffic on several streets in Hagerstown today and on Monday, according to the city's Engineering Department. New traffic signal construction will close North Potomac Street to through traffic at North Street today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A detour will be posted and local access will be maintained. On Monday starting at 7 a.m., Columbia Gas will replace a cracked gas line and restore pavement on South Burhans Boulevard between Wesel Boulevard and Chase Street.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation is in the process of a bridge resurfacing project on southbound I-81 just inside the West Virginia/Maryland line, according to Maryland State Police. Because of the lane closure, traffic is heavily congested on southbound I-81 in Maryland, state police said.  State police suggest motorists traveling that route to expect heavy delays.  Maryland State Police ask motorists who can to find alternate routes of travel to avoid further traffic congestion.

Interstate 81, both north and south directions, will be shut down at exit 23 (Marlowe) in Berkeley County between 8 and 9 p.m. Thursday, due to emergency repairs of a cable that is crossing both north- and southbound lanes. This is done in conjunction with the W.Va. Department of Highways with the help of W.Va. State Police, the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department and Berkeley County Deputy Reserves. Expect delays and use alternate routes. Also, U.S. 11 at exit 23 will be closed due to bridge construction.

The Martinsburg Police Department and members of the West Virginia State Police have announced plans to stage two sobriety checkpoints this weekend. Beginning at 10 p.m. on Saturday, state police will be conducting a checkpoint along U.S. 11 near Evans Run Drive south of Martinsburg, according to a news release. The checkpoint will continue until 4 a.m., Sunday. Martinsburg police will be doing a checkpoint beginning at midnight on Saturday and running through 5 a.m. in the 1200 block of North Queen Street.

The right lane of East Washington Street between Mulberry Street and Cannon Avenue was closed Wednesday as work crews from Miller Pipeline rehabilitated sanitary sewer mains in that area, according to a traffic advisory from the City of Hagerstown's website, www.hagerstownmd.org . The lane was expected to remain closed until around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Motorists approaching the work zone will encounter cones, barricades, flagmen and other traffic control devices. Emergency vehicles will be able to pass through the work zone.

Fifteen miles long. That is the expected length of 2,500 motorcycles and other vehicles that will be arriving in Washington County on Friday morning in remembrance of the lives lost in the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, according to Maryland State Police. America's 9/11 Ride is going from Somerset, Pa. to Arlington, Va., then on to New York, state police said in a news release. The riders are expected to arrive in Cumberland, Md., about 8 a.m. Friday, then travel about 35 miles on eastbound Interstate 68 until it merges with Interstate 70 in Washington County, police said.

Construction at the intersection of Queen and King streets in Martinsubrg is on schedule to be completed by Bike Night two weeks from today when hundreds of motorcyclists stream into downtown, officials said Friday. Even if the intersection isn't reopened to traffic by then, Main Street Martinsburg Executive Director Randy Lewis said an alternative route to bring the bikes into town has been devised for the charitable event, which benefits Hospice of the Panhandle. Kenneth L. Clohan, area construction engineer for the state Division of Highways, said the project appears to be on schedule.

New traffic signal equipment will be installed Wednesday at the Halfway Boulevard/Massey Boulevard intersection and the intersection along Massey Boulevard at the Valley Mall and Dollar Tree entrances, according to the Washington County Division of Public Works Department of Engineering and Construction. Work is scheduled to occur between 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Traffic will be maintained in all directions at each intersection and assisted by flaggers. The public should anticipate delays of as long as 15 minutes as the equipment is installed.

As a result of a sinkhole that formed adjacent to Monocacy Boulevard near I-70 early Tuesday afternoon, the State Highway Administration has temporarily closed the ramp from westbound Interstate 70 to Monocacy Boulevard in Frederick, SHA announced in a news release.   Drivers are encouraged to use westbound I-70 to East Street to Patrick Street to reach Monacacy Boulevard. Frederick County Department of Public Works crews have also closed Monacacy Boulevard between Patrick Street and South Street.  SHA expects the ramp and Monacacy Boulevard to be closed through the evening rush hour and into this evening, according to the release.

Editor's note: Millions of dollars worth of road projects are under way in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and southcentral Pennsylvania. Drivers will find themselves navigating through detours and delays. The Herald-Mail will run this feature regularly on Mondays this summer and into the fall to get motorists ready for the start of the work week. Here is what to anticipate on the roads this week: West Virginia Bloomery Road in Jefferson County is closed to through traffic about two miles north of the road's intersection with W.Va.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Bloomery Road (Jefferson County Route 27) will be closed to through traffic approximately two miles north of the intersection with W.Va. 9, the West Virginia Department of Highways said Friday in a news release. The road will be closed until further notice, the release said. The closure is a precautionary safety measure for a new pre-cast concrete arch structure that was recently constructed as part of the project to widen W.Va. 9 to four lanes, according to the release.