MD 346 closes for slope repair

WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. – The signs are up. MD 346 is officially closed for the next month or so to fix something called slope failure. It’s an issue this roadway has been facing for years.

“You can see the guardrail has pushed away and we can’t let traffic anywhere near that. That’s why the orange barrier has been up here. So what we’re going to do is shut the road down for safety, we’re going to come in here and have a lot of equipment in the coming weeks. We’re going to go ahead and completely rebuild the slope right here,” explains Bob Rager, SHA Spokesperson.

With most of the embankment washed away, the state says getting this roadway fixed is now a priority.

“We would see that erosion come all the way up to the shoulder of the road and eventually undercut the road and create a very dangerous situation and that’s what we want to avoid.”

Now the plan is to completely rebuild the slope in a matter of roughly a month.

“It’s not just a matter of putting dirt back in it. We’ve got to go in there and pull all the material out, we have to stabilize it, we’ve got to put the new material in, we’ve got it compact it and we’ve got to make sure we have good cover on that when it’s all is said and done,” explains Rager.

Having this road closure isn’t a big inconvenience for Carolyn Campbell who uses it every week, but she says this can be a issue for others in the area.

“For the elderly in this area, they like to take the back roads and go at a slower pace and don’t have to deal with all the heavy traffic and motorists driving real fast. It’s kind of a big inconvenience for them.”

But Campbell adds the inconvenience is worth it.

“It needs to be done so it’s better than it caving in,” Campbell continues, “It will be safe and that’s what’s important.”

The state says weather permitting the project could be done in six weeks or so. Once this project is finished, they will move onto another slope repair on MD 589.