April 25, 2008 by webmaster.

Per WBOC.com:

INDIAN RIVER INLET, Del. - The Delaware Department of Transportation say workers will be removing the approaches for the scrapped Indian River Inlet Bridge project beginning the week of April 28.

DelDOT announced that the contract for the partial removal of the approaches for a new Indian River Inlet Bridge has been awarded to Richard E. Pierson Construction Company Inc. for the amount of $1,467,989.

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August 29, 2007 by webmaster.

Wow… it’s been a while since I posted anything to the ol’ blog.  My work and social lives have consumed me as of late, but I did manage to get a couple of new pages posted.  You can check out the links on the main page in order to view them.

Another note… the abandoned part of US 50 just outside of Vienna, MD has once again been closed to traffic.  It looks like Wicomico County has turned the highway over to Delmarva Power and Light, who have gated the roadway off.  It’s now considered private property.  I guess if you want to view it, you’re going to have to do so though the website.

In the mean time, I’ve noticed a lot of websites have posted links to Delmarva Highways.  I can only say… “thank you!”  It’s nice to know my little labor of love has developed into something that more than just “roadgeeks” can enjoy.  If you surfed onto the site on accident, welcome!  If you need any help, or have any questions, just drop me a line at webmaster@delmarvahighways.com and I’ll give you the hook up.

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March 14, 2007 by webmaster.

Yup… after having the site lay dormant for close to 4 months… I finally made an update.  6 new photos have been added to the US 50/US 213 Abandoned Drawbridge page.  Go check them out… especially if you’re a fan of abandoned roads.  You won’t be disappointed.

Another update I had to do was rather unexpected… and a little disappointing.  Microsoft has stopped supporting it’s bCentral Fastcounter, which is what I was using to display a hit counter at the bottom of the Index page of the website.  They were nice enough to NOT send me an e-mail about this… and I was unable to record the number of hits the page had gotten before the counter was removed.  I think it was somewhere around 28,000 but I’m not entirely sure.  It is a little frustrating… especially since that counter had been on the page since day 1 at my original lycos.com domain.

So… I had to institute a new counter… which has been reset to 0.  At least this one will send me site stats via e-mail weekly, and will hopefully be around for a while.  Maybe it won’t take me another 3 years to build up a respectable number of hits displayed.

Help out the page counter.  Log into Delmarva Highways, and hit your “refresh” button a bunch of times.  I’d appreciate it. 

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February 22, 2007 by webmaster.

From WBOC.com:

DOVER- It is going to be a long road ahead for the Delaware Department of Transportation and its more than $1 billion shortfall.

DelDOT’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year relies heavily on tax money. The department now faces a $1.5 billion shortfall over the next six years, down from an initial shortfall of $2.7 billion. DelDOT cut back on road projects to bring that number down.

DelDOT and Gov. Ruth Ann Minner want to raise nearly a $1 billion to make up for that shortage. The plan calls for raising the gas tax by 5 cents and increasing the tolls on Route 1 by as much as $1.

DelDOT also wants to eliminate EZ-Pass discounts and increase the registration and vehicle fees at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Since there would still be a shortfall, DelDOT would have to borrow the other $500 million.

Without that money, Minner warns that it would be difficult to maintain roads, bridges and railroad crossings. And the governor says DelDOT could lose out on $220 million in federal dollars for local projects.

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February 15, 2007 by webmaster.

Courtesy of WBOC:

SNOW HILL- A heated debate over a busy Route 113 intersection near Snow Hill has come to an end.

Maryland State Highway Administration officials decided not to add a traffic light at the Route 12 intersection. The road changed from two lanes to four back in December. Five accidents have occurred there since then, all with injuries.

SHA District Engineer Donnie Drewer said a study of the road concluded a traffic light is not needed at the intersection.

But local drivers say it is the only way to keep them safe.

“When you’re trying to cross the intersection you’ll have so much more of a traffic flow of people going toward Virginia, toward Ocean City,” said Leigh Ann Vreeland of Snow Hill. “I think they’re setting up a lot of people for a lot of problems here.”

Drewer say drivers need to get used to the dualization.

“You drive something daily, the same thing over and over again and you just get use to it,” he said. “And when there’s a change put in, you don’t realize there was a change and that’s when there’s an accident.”

Drewer said the SHA plans to add more yield signs and rumble strips along Route 113.

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February 15, 2007 by webmaster.

Story courtesy of the Chincoteague Beacon:

CHINCOTEAGUE — Construction will begin next month on the $68 million Chincoteague Causeway bridge to replace the worn spans near the island and will continue until the end of the decade, officials said Thursday as they detailed the huge building and engineering effort.

Virginia Department of Transportation officials and an engineering firm met with local business owners during the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce’s annual membership meeting to discuss what island residents and visitors will experience between the project’s March 2 start date and its Nov. 9, 2009, completion.

The Richmond office of American Bridge Company in November was awarded the contract by VDOT for the construction of new approaches and bridges over the Black Narrows, Chincoteague and Lewis Creek navigational channels.

“American Bridge knows what they’re doing on water in marine work,” said Bruce Garber, who works for Jacobs Civil Engineering and is the VDOT consultant for the project.

“I’m very pleased to say the initial indications from American Bridge have been very positive and I’m very encouraged by them.”

The new bridge is eagerly anticipated by the town’s residents and the hundreds of thousands of visitors attracted by the town, the famous July Pony Penning events and the popular Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague Island National Seashore.

Beginning next month, Garber said island residents will see American Bridge’s presence on Chincoteague, with the arrival of barges — one carrying a gigantic crane — floating materials over to begin building temporary bridges, or trestles.

Work will immediately begin at Abutments A and B, which are located by the existing Black Narrows bridge’s south side and at the Maddox Boulevard site, respectively.

There, several pilings will be driven into the ground to build a trestle. A crane will then be loaded onto the trussel and begin the process of driving pylons for the bridge locations. During this process, Garber said that several test pilings will also be driven to test the bridge’s technical design and measurements.

Work on the Abutment A location, which begins at Black Narrows and ends at the tip of Marsh Island, will not be as easy because of nesting bird restrictions that begin in April and end in late August.

“So they intend to do as much work over there in March as weather will allow in that restricted area,” he said. “Afterwards, the focus will be shifted to a much greater degree at the Maddox Boulevard location.”

After the restricted period has ended, they will have more “production” pilings ordered and will begin driving them throughout the fall and winter months of next year.

Work next month will also begin by a subcontractor provided by Delmarva Power in the movement of power lines to Chincoteague. Garber said some power line poles just beyond the Black Narrows bridge will be moved to the south end of the bridge, crossing back to the power distribution station on the island.

Garber said that a field office has been provided by American Bridge on Church Street, just behind the old elementary school.

Though public relations will go through the VDOT office, he said that if anyone has any immediate concerns about the bridge, he or one of his associates will be available inside one of the office trailers there.

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January 10, 2007 by webmaster.

Back on January 4th, Delmarva Highways celebrated it’s 3rd birthday.  Hard to believe that something I started to kill time has turned into such a big project.

I want to thank all of the supporters and contributers I’ve had over the past 3 years… along with everyone who’s spent a little time checking out the site.  Since January 4, 2004, we’ve had over 31,000 visitors.  What would be the point of doing a website like this if nobody came to see it… right?

Again… thanks to everyone who’s made the time and effort I’ve invested on my little pet project worth it!

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December 28, 2006 by webmaster.

I finally had the opportunity to drive the new dualized section of US 113 around Snow Hill last week.  The new lanes area nice drive… though there’s still a bit of finishing work to do.

Also… I suppose to make the highway more “expressway” like, crossover intersections at Brick Kiln Road and Castle Hill Road have been closed off.  That’s really going to upset some of the locals… but it’s safer for the mass majority.

They also has the foresight to put a stub at the northern end of the bypass… to be used whenever the funding is available for the next phase of US 113 dualization.

IMO… Maryland has really dropped the ball when it comes to US 113.  Delaware has had US 113 entirely dualized for years now… and only recently has Maryland started upgrading the highway (with the exceptions of the Berlin bypass and from Pocomoke to Snow Hill… which was upgraded in the 70s).  Traffic counts are steadily increasing… and population influx into Worcester County is skyrocketing.  Maryland needs to step up and get this highway finished… instead of just putting rumble strips along the center line of the highway and having mandatory “headlights on” zones… which are never enforced.

Come on Maryland… get with the program.  Spend some money on highway upgrades somewhere other than the Baltimore/DC metro area.  We can use a little bit of that transportation money over here on the Eastern Shore also, you know?

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December 20, 2006 by webmaster.

Yesterday, the newly expanded 4-lane US 113 bypass of Snow Hill opened to traffic.  I’ve been fighting a nasty case of the crud the past couple of days, and haven’t had a chance to check it out.  However… when I was last there Sunday morning… it looked almost complete.

It looks like the new 4-lane highway will not have any traffic signals… however intersections with MD 12 and MD 365 will continue to have flashing yellow lights.  Also… a new truck weigh station will be constructed at the southern end of the bypass, where US 113 and BUS US 113 meet.

I do, however, happen to have one particular gripe about the project.  It look like MD-SHA has outsourced their sign making.  Most of the signage on the highway doesn’t follow MD-SHA’s normal sign designs.  Fonts are smaller… as well as the actual footprints of the signs.  Also… the US 113 markers themselves are of inconsistent designs.  Some use a full shield on a black background… others use cutouts of the shields with no background.  Bad signing… to me… just looks unprofessional.

However… I digress.  I will have the opportunity of driving the new 4-lane US 113 Sunday morning as I leave work, and will then share with you my thoughts on the project, as well as, give more details on construction.

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December 20, 2006 by webmaster.

If you’re reading this… you’re in the right place.

After having some issues with the Google Blogger I was using to host the Delmarva Highways blog, I decided to move to one that is hosted through my website provider.  It gives me greater flexibility as far as content and design, and will make it easier for you to comment on my posts.

As always… thanks for visiting the website.  And… thanks for checking out the new blog!

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