Culvert

HANCOCK - Hancock officials learned more details Wednesday night about a $1.8 million culvert repair project that requires part of the C&O Canal to be kept dry, and about a dike system that will allow the town to hold its annual Barge Bash despite the project. The temporary dike will be made of clay and will be installed near a footbridge across the canal about 40 feet upstream from the boat ramp to the Potomac River, allowing the section from the boat ramp to the dike to be rewatered, Brian Carlstrom, deputy superintendent of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, said Wednesday.

The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday rejected the only bid the county received for culvert replacement work. The commissioners turned down the bid from Building Systems Inc. of Hagerstown for $440,936. Commissioner James F. Kercheval abstained from the vote. The county plans to rework the bid documents and readvertise the project in the hopes of attracting more bidders. The project includes culvert replacements at Harpers Ferry, Nick and Toms roads. The work includes the removal of an existing deteriorated culvert with the placement of a reinforced concrete pipe, cast-in-place concrete endwalls and installment of a new traffic barrier, according to information provided by the county.

Work crews from Hagerstown's Department of Public Works will be replacing a storm drainage culvert under Park Lane at the CSX Railroad crossing Wednesday beginning at 7 a.m. The involves excavating the street to remove the existing culvert, installation of the new culvert, and backfilling/repaving the trench, according to a City of Hagerstown press release. Park Lane will be closed to all traffic between Belview Avenue and Saint Clair Street. Motorists approaching the work zone will be forced to detour around the area using Pennsylvania Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Woodland Way. City officials anticipates that Park Lane will be reopened to traffic by 5 p.m. Thursday.

The current culvert replacement project on Crystal Falls Drive near Pondsville Road will be completed on or about Monday and the final in a series of three stream culvert replacement projects is set to begin, the Washington County Division of Public Works Capital Projects Engineering Department said Wednesday. Work to replace the third and final stream crossing -- approximately two-tenths of a mile north of the intersection of Crystal Falls Drive and Pondsville Road -- is scheduled to begin, and the road will close to through traffic at that location, on or about Dec. 3. The road closure, required for replacement of a stream culvert pipe crossing under Crystal Falls Drive, will last about 45 days.

Repairs are under way to the C&O Canal over Culvert 182 in Hancock.

Bridge repair projects listed in Washington County's proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for fiscal years 2007-2012. East Oak Ridge Drive bridge, near Funkstown, $778,000. Marble Quarry Road bridge, near Keedysville, $1.2 million (replaces single lane concrete bridge). Barnes Road bridge, near Boonsboro, $1.14 million. Marble Quarry Road bridge, near Keedysville, $944,000 (replaces single lane steel stringer/wooden deck bridge. Catholic Church Road bridge, near Pectonville, $129,000.

Work crews from Hagerstown's Department of Public Works will be replacing a storm drainage culvert under Park Lane at the CSX Railroad crossing today, beginning at 7 a.m. The work involves excavating the street to remove the existing culvert, installation of the new culvert and backfilling/repaving the trench, according to a City of Hagerstown press release. Park Lane will be closed to all traffic between Belview Avenue and Saint Clair Street. Motorists approaching the work zone will be forced to detour around the area using Pennsylvania Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Woodland Way. City officials anticipate Park Lane will be reopened to traffic by 5 p.m. Thursday.

FREDERICK, Md. - A Frederick man died early Sunday morning after he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a culvert, according to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. Bryan Benjamin Ogle, 33, was pronounced dead at Frederick Memorial Hospital, deputies said. Ogle failed to make a left hand curve at Lowes Lane and Spectrum Drive, and ran off the right side of the road hitting a culvert, deputies said. Deputies were called to the accident at 2:21 a.m. Two other motorcyclists stopped to assist Ogle.

A drainage culvert replacement project expected to take nearly eight months to complete has approval to begin next week, and it will require temporary closure of portions of two roads just north of Smithsburg, according to a Washington County official. Robert Slocum, deputy director of public works, said recently that the overall project, which is to begin about May 6, includes three smaller projects to replace culverts that are in disrepair - one on Leitersburg-Smithsburg Road and two on Stevenson Road, close to where the two roads intersect.

The problem: A tree limb, gravel, weeds and debris filled a culvert at the intersection of Leitersburg Pike (Md. 60) and Leiters Mill Road. William Bingaman, a nearby resident who wrote in about the problem, said that when it rains, water washes gravel out of the blocked culvert into the street, making it difficult for motorists traveling on Leiters Mill Road to stop at the intersection. When the gravel washes into the roadway, he said it is like driving on marbles. If the problem is not solved by this winter, he said he fears it will make the road like a “skating rink.” “The tree is what started it,” he said.

A drainage culvert replacement project expected to take nearly eight months to complete has approval to begin next week, and it will require temporary closure of portions of two roads just north of Smithsburg, according to a Washington County official. Robert Slocum, deputy director of public works, said recently that the overall project, which is to begin about May 6, includes three smaller projects to replace culverts that are in disrepair - one on Leitersburg-Smithsburg Road and two on Stevenson Road, close to where the two roads intersect.

The West Virginia Division of Highways announced Thursday that Rosedale Cemetery Road (Berkeley County Route 45/6) will be closed on Monday. The closure is approximately one-tenth mile south of the intersection with Jenny Wren Drive and will be in place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in order to replace a culvert, according to a news release from the division of highways. Motorists are advised to use Burke Street, Queen Street and Moler Avenue. 

County awards culvert contract The Washington County Board of Commissioners awarded a contract Tuesday to replace culverts on Ernstville Road, Gilardi Road and Maugansville Road. The commissioners voted unanimously to award the contract to Kinsley Construction of Hagerstown for $622,711.45, the lowest of six bids for the project, according to Robert Slocum, deputy director of public works. The work will begin around Dec. 19 and is scheduled to be completed Aug. 29, 2012, Slocum said.

The problem: A tree limb, gravel, weeds and debris filled a culvert at the intersection of Leitersburg Pike (Md. 60) and Leiters Mill Road. William Bingaman, a nearby resident who wrote in about the problem, said that when it rains, water washes gravel out of the blocked culvert into the street, making it difficult for motorists traveling on Leiters Mill Road to stop at the intersection. When the gravel washes into the roadway, he said it is like driving on marbles. If the problem is not solved by this winter, he said he fears it will make the road like a “skating rink.” “The tree is what started it,” he said.

Repairs are under way to the C&O Canal over Culvert 182 in Hancock.

HANCOCK - Hancock officials learned more details Wednesday night about a $1.8 million culvert repair project that requires part of the C&O Canal to be kept dry, and about a dike system that will allow the town to hold its annual Barge Bash despite the project. The temporary dike will be made of clay and will be installed near a footbridge across the canal about 40 feet upstream from the boat ramp to the Potomac River, allowing the section from the boat ramp to the dike to be rewatered, Brian Carlstrom, deputy superintendent of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, said Wednesday.

HANCOCK -- There will be water in the canal for the Barge Bash, according to Hancock Mayor Dan Murphy. There was a danger this year's event would be canceled because a leaking culvert on the section of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that runs past the town is scheduled for repair this year, C&O Canal National Historical Park Superintendent Kevin Brandt said last week. The canal's water level in the Hancock area was reduced last fall and it was completely dry in areas last week. The canal wasn't expected to be filled again until after the repair work has been done.

HANCOCK -- A Barge Bash with no water? That could happen in June as the stretch of canal by the town of Hancock will remain dry through the fall, said Kevin Brandt, superintendent for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The canal will remain dry so a historic stone culvert that has been leaking for years can be repaired, Brandt said Thursday. The culvert is about 150 feet upstream from the Potomac River boat ramp bridge that crosses the canal. Because the park was able to get $1 million to $2 million for the repair work through the federal Recovery Act now, it will cost less money and time to get the work done than if the culvert failed completely, Brandt said.