Road Work

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Gov. Bob Wise on Wednesday announced that more than $32 million in contracts have been awarded for expanding W.Va. 9 to four lanes in Jefferson County, a development that was welcomed by local officials who are anxious to head off further highway congestion problems in the area. "It's about time," said Del. Bob Tabb, D-Jefferson. The contracts involve grading and drainage work for a little more than 3 miles of the four-lane highway from the intersection of W.Va.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- For two weeks, the top of Terry Biser's driveway has been filled with pebbles. He sweeps it occasionally, but the rocks keep rolling off Leiters Mill Road onto his property, the result of a new road repair method that is infuriating some residents. "It's impossible," Biser said. "It's just a mess. " Two weeks ago, the county repaired Leiters Mill Road using what is called chip seal instead of traditional asphalt. Chip seal, a mixture of asphalt emulsion and stone, is less expensive than asphalt, which has gotten costlier with rising oil prices.

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.

City worker Mark Persinger bears the cold Thursday on West Washington Street in Hagers-town diverting traffic due to road work.

The curb and gutter relocation project on U.S. 11 (Virginia Avenue) and Lincoln Avenue in Halfway was expected to be finished Thursday afternoon, according to Albert Culley, consultant engineer for the Maryland State Highway Administration. Culley says the project has been going on for three weeks. "We've had so much rain that we couldn't get a lot of work done some days," he said. "Luckily, the weather has been nice this week. " The project has involved tearing up the original curb on the northeastern corner of the intersection of U.S. 11 and Lincoln Avenue and putting a new curb closer to the house there.

Road work still continues on Eastern Boulevard Wednesday morning. Huge holes in the surface are being filled with new asphalt. One-lane traffic patterns continue on some parts of the road, making traffic heavy at times.

Milling and repaving of East Washington and East Franklin streets in Hagerstown is scheduled to begin this week, the Hagerstown Engineering Department said. Motorists are advised to watch for altered traffic patterns and raised water valves and manholes while the road work is being done. The work is scheduled to be done overnight, beginning at 7 p.m. Monday. According to the work schedule, which could be changed due to weather, the work will be done between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

By SCOTT BUTKI / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer HALFWAY - Washington County will let the new Target discount department store open in early March as planned even though a required road leading into the site probably won't be finished until April, County Administrator Rodney Shoop said Wednesday. The county did not want to prevent the business at the Crosspoint Shopping Center from opening on time so he waived a county requirement barring Target from stocking its store until the center's owner, Hekbel Limited Liability Corp.

Washington County plans to spend $25 million over the next five years on road repairs. County residents will see an increase in road work in the next month by C. William Hetzer Inc. of Hagerstown, and full-scale repairs will start by mid-August, according to a written statement from the county. C. William Hetzer was the winning bidder on the county's Pavement Maintenance Program contract. The County Commissioners authorized $3.32 million in road repairs for fiscal year 2006 with the option to use an additional $675,000 from the previous fiscal year's budget, according to the statement.

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.