Road Work

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.

Work crews from the City of Hagerstown's Water Department are to begin installing new water service in the unit block of South Potomac Street on Monday at 7 a.m., weather permitting, according to a City of Hagerstown press release. On-street parking will not be available on a portion of the west side of the street, and the western travel lane of the street will be closed to traffic. Traffic will be shifted to the eastern travel lane, which will remain open throughout the construction.

The Washington County Engineering Department has started the first phase of its pavement maintenance program. The program, which includes patching and overlaying dozens of county roads, is starting in the Halfway area. On Thursday, the county patched and overlaid Tanglewood Court and patched Greenmount Avenue. The county was scheduled to patch several roads Friday, including York Road from Halfway Boulevard to Marbern Road; Hollywood Road from York Road to Lexington Avenue; and Lexington Avenue from Marbern Road to U.S. 11. Greenmount, Wolford and Lincoln avenues will be patched next week.

Grants available in Greencastle GREENCASTLE, Pa. - The Greencastle-Antrim Education Foundation has opened its Education Mini-Grants Program. The Education Mini-Grants Program seeks applications from public and private school educators and nonprofit community-based organizations demonstrating innovative programming that addresses an identified educational need or challenge that faces the members of the Greencastle-Antrim community. This need could be met within a classroom, through an after school project or during an evening or weekend community-based program.

"Do not blame the economy as an excuse for using your credit card. People did exist before credit cards. They saved until they could buy what they wanted. Do you 'want' it or need it? Waiting develops character. If you didn't have a credit card, you would still get by. " - Washington County "I found the prison series interesting, since I worked there for 30 years. I worked as a nonuniformed employee and saw more of the 'big' picture of these cities called prisons.

North Locust Street striping begins today Work crews will begin striping parking spaces on the east side of North Locust Street between Washington Street and Broadway in Hagerstown this morning. Traffic will be maintained as one through lane, but motorists approaching North Locust Street should expect to encounter flagmen and lane shifts until the work is completed, according to a City of Hagerstown press release. For information, contact the city engineering department at 301-739-8577, ext. 125. Md. 68 resurfacing to start next week Resurfacing will begin next week on a section of Md. 68 between Cedar Ridge Road and Bottom Road in Williamsport, according to a release from the Maryland State Highway Administration.

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

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - As the reconstruction of Roland Avenue nears completion, Chambersburg is wrapping up one of its busiest years ever for street reconstruction and repair, but borough officials say 2007 will be much less ambitious. "When it's all said and done, we'll probably be in excess of $2 million," Borough Manager Eric Oyer said of the 2006 street work. Putting that in perspective, he said, "the value of road work in '06 is almost the value of all the road work we did in the 1990s.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The obstacles that blocked roadway agreements for two developers in Washington Township, Pa., were cleared Monday by township supervisors. The supervisors' actions allow developers WAM Enterprises of Eldersburg, Md., and B2M2 of Waynesboro to move forward with their plans for a combined 273 new homes in the township. Both WAM Enterprises and B2M2 had been negotiating their respective agreements with the supervisors for months. WAM The WAM agreement, approved on a 3-2 vote, amends previous negotiations concerning a proposed 151-lot development on the former Pifer farm along North Welty Road.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A two-month, $1,629,000 paving project in Franklin County, Pa., is set to start today. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contracted with Valley Quarries Inc. of Chambersburg for the work, which will repair and resurface 8.35 miles of roads that combined average almost 11,000 vehicles daily. The project encompasses one mile of Pa. 914 in Marion from U.S. 11 to Interstate 81 in Guilford Township; two miles of Slabtown Road in Quincy Township from Pa. 997 through Slabtown to Pa. 233 in the Borough of Mont Alto; three miles of Richmond Road in Metal Township from Pa. 75 north to the Franklin-Fulton county line; and 2.4 miles of Mainsville Road from Pineville Road south to the Franklin-Cumberland county line in Southampton Township.