Dual Highway

Police responded to a Burger King on Dual Highway Sunday night at 6:56 p.m. for a possible bomb, but nothing was found, a Hagerstown Police Department spokesman said Sunday night. Police went to the restaurant at 503 Dual Highway after a note was found in the men's bathroom saying a bomb might be present, a 911 supervisor said. The restaurant was evacuated, the supervisor said. Authorities left the restaurant shortly before 8 p.m., after nothing was found, officials said.

Authorities are expected to reopen Dual Highway soon after they responded to the 1600 block of the road for a smoke condition in a house, according to a Washington County 911 supervisor. It turned out the problem was a furnace malfunction, the supervisor said. There was no fire in the house and no one was hurt, the supervisor said. The intersection of Dual Highway and Edgewood Drive was shut down to allow crews access to the home, the supervisor said about 2 p.m. The call for the investigation went out at 1:42 p.m.

The right lane of Edgewood Drive southbound is closed between Mount Aetna Road and Dual Highway. Workers from Pessoa Construction Company were out Wednesday afternoon working on the sidewalk along Edgewood Drive southbound. According to a published report in October, sidewalk repair work and patching up driveways are minor tasks that need to be completed as a result of the expansion project at the intersection of Dual Highway and Edgewood Drive. The project is substantially complete, though, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA)

A 60-year-old man was struck by a vehicle Monday evening in the 1400 block of Dual Highway, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said. Deputy 1st Class Carly Hose said that William Kenneth Mills Jr. walked into the path of a Buick sedan at about 7 p.m. on the stretch of Dual Highway east of the intersection with Mt. Aetna Road. She said Mills was taken to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown to be treated for minor injuries. No damage was done to the Buick. Hose said Mills was found to be at fault for the accident.

There was a two-vehicle accident on Dual Highway at its intersection with Mt. Aetna Road, Deputy Miller of the Washington County Sheriff's Department is reporting. No one was injured. The incident happened when a car going westbound on Dual Highway made a U-turn onto the eastbound lanes and collided with a car going eastbound toward the Mount Aetna Road intersection. Part of the back bumper of the eastbound vehicle was torn off in the collision. Police were dispatched to the scene at 8:52 a.m. and left at 9:20 a.m.

Demolition began this week on a section of the Best Western Grand Venice Hotel on Dual Highway in Hagerstown. Last year, Nithin Jayadeva, the hotel's general manager and a co-owner, said the separate motel-like portion of the hotel was being torn down - about 150 rooms. The motel portion was built in the late 1950s or early 1960s and has become obsolete, he said at the time. The main hotel section remains open. In January 2011, Jayadeva said he expected the demolition to happen before the end of 2011.

Two people were taken to the hospital after an accident at the Golden LivingCenter on 750 Dual Highway, Officer Gregware of the Hagerstown Police Department said. The accident happened when a woman in a Plymouth Reliant was attempting to back out in the parking lot, said Gregware, who did not want his first name revealed. The car was accidentally put in drive and went down a hill at the edge of the parking lot, Gregware said. The driver and a passenger were taken to Meritus Medical Center, Gregware said.

Five vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction crash in the 1300 block of Dual Highway Thursday evening, officials said. The crash occurred about 5:41 p.m. in front of the Sharrett car dealership when a vehicle slowed down for another vehicle in one of the eastbound lanes on Dual Highway, said Deputy J. Kuhnke of the Washington County Sheriff's Office. A vehicle following close behind the vehicle that slowed down struck the rear of the first vehicle, Kuhnke said. Then the other remaining eastbound vehicles became involved in the crash in a similar fashion, Kuhnke said.

laurae@herald-mail.com Dual Highway won't be able to handle traffic unless it gets an extra lane in each direction and major intersection improvements in the next four years, according to a State Highway Administration study. State and local officials pledged Thursday to share the costs of improving the road while also requiring developers to contribute. "Time is essential here," Hagerstown City Engineer Rodney Tissue said. The Edgewood Drive intersection already is failing and should have three left-turn lanes going east onto Dual Highway, Assistant District Engineer for Traffic George Small said.

A man who was critically injured when he was stabbed in the neck early Saturday in the parking lot of Divi's nightclub is expected to survive, a Hagerstown Police Department spokesman said Sunday night. Sgt. John Lehman said he spoke to the man Saturday. He said the man came through surgery, and was talking and alert. Another man was stabbed in the chest at the club at 431 Dual Highway, but his injury was not life-threatening, police said. Police said the incident happened Saturday shortly before 2 a.m., when a fight involving several people started in the parking lot. When police arrived, they said they discovered that two men had been stabbed.