Rt. 180 near Brunswick sustained the worst damage.
Frederick, Md (KM) Repair work continues on roads in Frederick County which were damaged during last week’s heavy rain and flooding.
Route 180 (Jefferson Pike) between Route 17 (Burkittsville Road) and Route 79 (Petersville Road) in the Brunswick area was closed due to damage near the bridge over Little Catoctin Creek. “Unfortunately, though, the approach roads and some of the roadway slopes were eroded away in that torrent of water that came through there,” says SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar. “Our bridge people looked at it. The bridge structure itself is in great shape. We’ve done some restoration of some of the approach roadways. But it’s going to be at least another couple of weeks before we’re able to open the lanes there because of such significant damage to roadside slopes on either side and also the bridge approaches. And then we’ll to go ahead and pave some of that area.”
He says it could take about seven weeks before that stretch of Route 180 can reopen to traffic. “That’s like a worst case scenario. Our crews, once they get in there and start working, they’re really, really moving and making significant progress. We don’t want to roll it out because if we do get another storm, that could really hamper things,” says Gischlar. “We’ve been getting these storms lately that they’re dumping a couple inches of rain in a very short amount of time. That swells up that already full creek and it doesn’t take much to wash away what we’ve done.
SHA is also dealing with a problem in another area of the county. “We do have an issue on US 40-Alternate over near Braddock Mountain kind of between, Fern Lane and Ridge Road. The eastbound right lane, which is kind of an acceleration or climbing lane, and the right shoulder are closed,” says Gischlar. He says part of the embankment was eroding away, the roadside slopes, “because of that rain.” That part of Route 40-A is expected to remain closed until it can be stabilized.
“Whenever you have rains like this, Frederick County is very susceptible there in Mid-Maryland with that karst, the limestone, so that can create the sinkholes,” says Gischlar. “So we’re going around, in the course of our normal duties, responding to and from anything such as this US 40-Alternative thing, our crews are trained to look for any indications of that happening. And that’s what we’re doing right now. We’ll continue to do so for the next foreseeable future.”
Frederick, Brunswick and Jefferson were hit the hardest by last week’s storm.
By Kevin McManus