Worcester County officials meet with MDOT to discuss transportation priorities
WORCESTER CO., Md. – On Tuesday, the Maryland Department of Transportation met with Worcester County officials as part of a state-wide tour to discuss transportation priorities in the area.
Greg Slater, the MDOT SHA Administrator said, “We want to make sure that we’re funding things and meeting the needs of all of our citizens across the state and hearing that valuable input is a critical part of that.”
A variety of priorities were covered at the meeting, such as addressing the traffic issues surrounding Route 589.
Chip Bertino, a Worcester County Commissioner said, “Well we want to make sure that 589 continues to be a priority for them. We have a lot of issues as far as congestion coming out of Ocean Pines.”
The discussion surrounding Route 90 and Route 50 quickly stole the show Tuesday, when County Commissioners realized Route 90 was not even listed as a priority.
Joe Mitrecic, a Worcester County Commissioner said, “Well I brought up the Route 90 corridor. It needs to be dualized.”
According to MDOT officials, the Route 50 bridge needs to be replaced, but that’s a project that could take years to complete.
It’s a project that, according to County Commissioners, could cause serious headaches for drivers if Route 90 is not dualized beforehand.
Mitrecic said, “Anybody who remembers the Route 50 bridge being shut down for 30 days realizes that Route 90 cannot carry the load for Ocean City in the future by itself.”
MDOT officials told 47ABC the mention of the Route 90 bridge is a perfect example of why they have these meetings in the first place, and they said they will take it into consideration when crafting their budget.
Slater said, “We take that back by the middle of November and we really think about all that feedback as we develop our final program going into January.”
As for Worcester County Commissioners, they say time will tell if their conversations with the Department of Transportation Tuesday paid off.
Bertino said, “Well I think it was positive, but quite truthfully I think action is going to speak a lot louder than words and that’s what we’re going to want to see.”
We’re told before we can think about dualizing Route 90 or replacing the Route 50 bridge, work needs to be completed on U.S. Route 113, a project decades in the making that should be complete by next fall.
