Road Work

Yale Drive Yale Drive between Mount Aetna and Stanford roads will be closed from Monday to Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, according to the Washington County Division of Public Works. The closing is for roadway construction related to the building of a primary school and roadway widening. Road closing signs and detour signs will be posted at appropriate locations to redirect traffic with the least inconvenience. The road will be accessible at all times for emergency vehicles.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced the following work schedule for this week: Bridge work on Harbaugh Church Road in Washington Township Guardrail updates on St. Thomas-Williamson Road in St. Thomas Township and Fort McCord Road in Hamilton and St. Thomas townships Washing bridges across the county Replacing pipes on Rocky Mountain Road, Lemar Road, Cold Springs Road and Old...

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 o The sidewalk project in front of Harpers Ferry Middle School will cause occasional one-lane traffic on Washington Street that will be under the control of flaggers between Polk and Elm streets in the Town of Bolivar.

Work is scheduled to begin Wednesday on Jonathan Street, weather permitting, as part of the Jonathan Street Reconstruction Project. Crews will be conducting soil borings on Jonathan Street between Church and Charles streets beginning at 8 a.m., according to a press release from the City of Hagerstown. Work should be completed by 5 p.m. "No-parking" signs will be posted along Jonathan Street. Jonathan Street will remain open to traffic, but vehicles will be channeled to the side of the street away from the drilling rig. Motorists approaching the work zone should expect to encounter traffic control signs, cones and barricades.

The annual milling and paving of Hagerstown roads will begin Monday, a week later than expected, said City Engineer Bruce Johnston. The contractor, L.W. Wolfe Enterprises Inc., was finishing another project, Johnston said. Only one lane may be open at times on the 14 streets to be paved, Johnston said. The work is expected to be done within four weeks. The contractor will mill all or parts of six roads first, including Potomac Avenue from the railroad tracks near Manila Avenue to Northern Avenue, city officials said.

Inmates eyed for road work CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County Prison inmates might begin cleaning some county roads next month, according to Warden Raymond Rosenberry. "It's still in the planning stage. We're shooting for an April 15 start-up," he said Monday. "It's strictly a volunteer situation. They get to get away from the prison for a bit," Rosenberry said of the prisoners. He said the program would be open to inmates eligible for work-release. Not every nonviolent offender who is eligible for work release has a job to go to, Rosenberry said.

Several downtown intersections will be closed through Friday as road crews continue to drill holes for new traffic signal poles, according to the contractor. Mulberry Avenue will be closed between Franklin Street and Washington Street today, weather-permitting, said Gary Street, project manager for Lockheed Martin. South Locust Street from East Antietam Street to East Lee Street also will be closed at some point during that week, since the street is so narrow, Street said.

The City of Hagerstown has provided the following information about road work to be conducted in the coming week. Additinal information may be obtained by calling the city's Department of Engineering and Code Administration at 301-739-8577, ext. 125. o The City of Hagerstown's Public Works Department will set up two lane shifts, or chicanes, in the 100 and 200 blocks of South Prospect Street, beginning Monday. The street will remain open to traffic at all times. Traffic will be required to maneuver through the two lane shifts, the city said in an e-mailed release.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved two contracts totaling about $3 million to repair and maintain about 50 miles of the county's 840 miles of roadway, although rising oil prices could affect the list of roads to be treated. The commissioners awarded a $1,730,220 contract to Craig Paving Inc. of Hagerstown to repair and maintain 26 roads totaling 10.72 miles, with hot-mix asphalt applications. Robert Slocum, deputy director of county public works, told the commissioners about six miles of roads will be repaved.

Spring has sprung even if it isn't as warm or as moist as we often think of spring. However, as weather goes in the spring here in the Great Valley, if you don't like today's weather, stick around, because tomorrow's will be different. Spring on the farm is full of new beginnings. Calves, lambs and kids are born and chicks hatch. The renewing of the land begins, as well as the wheat, rye, barley and pastures green up. Spring also comes with lots of activity and smells. There is the smell of freshly turned soil, and of course, the smell of manure.

Poffenberger Road reopened to traffic between Garis Shop Road and Sharpsburg Pike earlier this week, but Sherry Wagner said she thinks some of the changes make the area more dangerous. “When I'm turning left from Alternate 40 onto Poffenberger Road or from Poffenberger Road onto Alternate 40, I can't see the cars until they're at the top of the hill,” said Wagner, who lives on Mar Rock Drive. “That intersection is not safe. At least you were 250 feet further down the hill before they moved it.” The intersection of Poffenberger Road and U.S. Alt. 40 was moved as part of an overall project that also included widening U.S. Alt. 40 in the area and installing a roundabout at the intersection of Poffenberger and Garis Shop roads.

Amberlee Shatzer lives on Garis Shop Road and did not hide her displeasure with the road work that began in the area this week. “It's a hot mess and ridiculous,” she said. “At first, we thought it wouldn't be as bad.” The work is for a project that includes widening U.S. Alternate 40, moving the intersection of U.S. Alternate 40 and Poffenberger Road about 250 feet west, and putting a roundabout at the intersection of Garis Shop Road and Poffenberger Road. Shatzer, 32, said she does not like the ideas behind the project.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved two contracts totaling about $3 million to repair and maintain about 50 miles of the county's 840 miles of roadway, although rising oil prices could affect the list of roads to be treated. The commissioners awarded a $1,730,220 contract to Craig Paving Inc. of Hagerstown to repair and maintain 26 roads totaling 10.72 miles, with hot-mix asphalt applications. Robert Slocum, deputy director of county public works, told the commissioners about six miles of roads will be repaved.

The Franklin County office of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced that work will be done through Friday on the following roads: • Grading on Back Road in Fannett Township • Crack sealing on Penn Mar Road in Washington Township; Clay Hill Road in Antrim Township; Cumberland Highway in Letterkenny Township; and Main Street in Fort Loudon, Pa., in Peters Township • Skin patching on Lemar Road and Etter Avenue, both in...

Traffic on East Moler Avenue (W.Va. 45) in Martinsburg is expected to be reduced to one lane near Queen Street (U.S. 11) beginning Monday at 8 p.m., according to the West Virginia Division of Highways. Crews from Jefferson Asphalt Products will be milling and paving the road, starting at Queen Street (U.S. 11) and extending about a mile and a half eastward. The project is expected to last 10 working days. Closure is expected to remain in effect between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. each day.

Robinwood Drive has had periodic lane closures Tuesday and today near the Hagerstown Community College due to road work. Traffic has sometimes been sluggish in both directions from Meritus Medical Center to the college and from Jefferson Boulevard to the college. The road has been subject to lane closures so a fiber optic line could be placed in the street, according to Allan Snider, owner of Snider & Son. The line is being placed there to provide internet service to DH Web, an internet design company located at 11377 Robinwood Drive in Hagerstown.

Road work is scheduled to begin Monday, June 27, on Manor Drive between Dual Highway and Pangborn Boulevard, according to a press release from the city of Hagerstown. J & P Excavating Company will start the construction of sidewalks on that portion of Manor Drive. The project will require some patching work and excavation on the pavement of the road, so it will affect traffic. Flaggers will be directing traffic when necessary during the project. There will also be cones, barricades and other traffic control devices.

Maintaining roads might not be the most glamorous of state and local governments' responsibilities, but when cracks, ruts and potholes appear, local drivers find its importance all too clear. In recent years, shrinking budgets and lower distributions of highway user revenues have made it more difficult for local governments to keep up with the needs of area roads. In this two-part series, which continues next Sunday, The Herald-Mail examines how funding shortages have affected road work from the state level to the towns.

Here is a list of road and lane closures in the area for Thursday, May 19, 2011: • The intersection of Massey Boulevard and Halfway Boulevard near Hagerstown is still undergoing its expansion project, causing traffic to be backed up in each direction at different times. Road work is expected to continue there until Thanksgiving. • The intersection between Dual Highway and Edgewood Drive is still undergoing a project to have it widened. Traffic is sometimes sluggish each way there.