On a recent jaunt through Salisbury on BUS US 50, I happened to drive the newly paved section through downtown. Apparently, like all recent resurfacing projects in the area, it was done by an outsourced outside contractor. And… apparently both this outside contractor and the MD-SHA lack any kind of quality control, based on what the job looked like after completion.

First of all, instead of painting the white lane dividing lines, “they” (being either SHA or the contractor) decided to use a new sort of reflective tape. It’s been used on other area projects, such as BUS US 13 in Salisbury and MD 528 in Ocean City with good results.

However, in this case, the person responsible for striping the new layer of asphalt was either visually impaired or wearing some sort of blindfold. The lines themselves were applied in such a way that most of them aren’t straight lines… instead being more “S” shaped. Also… they weren’t laid down along any sort of guide line in the pavement, so that traffic tends to weave around in order to stay between the lines like everyone has been enjoying adult beverages at happy hour.

Before outsourcing such projects to outside contractors, SHA did a fantastic job with highway maintenance. I can say from personal experience that a section of MD 14 that I drive on a semi-daily basis was last resurfaced around 1983, and the condition of the roadway is almost mint condition.

However… if SHA is going to continue to outsource resurfacing jobs to these outside contractors… someone (either SHA or MDOT) needs to check up on them to make sure they are going to do a respectable job.

Just my 2 cents.