Wednesday, September 26 - Coastal Highway Resurfacing Work Begins

OCEAN CITY - This week marked the beginning the Maryland Department of Transportation's State Highway Administration's (SHA) resurfacing project, which will be affecting traffic along Coastal Highway for the next few months.

The $1.4 million project will call for the resurfacing of more than two miles of MD 528 (Coastal Highway) between the north and southbound lanes of 26^th to 60^th streets. The project is estimated to last through the fall and into early December.

This week marked the beginning of the lane closures as the resurfacing began along the northbound lanes. Traffic cones, barrels, arrow boards and flag persons have been seen directing motorists. As always, the SHA advises that motorists proceed cautiously through the marked areas and be vigilant of pedestrians.

Project Engineer Ed Meredith explained that two lanes would be closed at a time. He added that for now, lane closures would only be occurring during the weekdays.

The project is scheduled for completion in early December, weather pending. Meredith explained that the weather would be the major factor in the project's completion, adding that cold or in-climate weather could result in a delay in the resurfacing.

'We usually schedule the project not to start until after the beach traffic has slowed down,' Meredith said, explaining that the SHA scheduled the project around the busy traffic times in Ocean City.

Meredith added the work was designed to avoid resurfacing Coastal Highway until at least after Labor Day.

Meredith explained that this week crews plan to begin milling out the north bound lanes, preparing all north bound lanes between 26^th and 60^th streets for paving. He anticipates that they will begin milling out the southbound lanes next week and begin paving the northbound lanes simultaneously.

Meredith is hopeful that if the project continues on schedule completion could come before early December.

'Hopefully, if everything goes well we'll get done early,' he said.

With the project well underway, traffic could be seen slowing down this week as motorists merged into one lane along northbound Coastal Highway.

'I was at the project yesterday and I was pleased at how traffic was moving through the project,' Meredith said, adding that they will be watching the increased traffic on Friday to see how smoothly traffic flows through the area.

To read the full story and see photos of the work, see The Dispatch on Friday.