Proposed plans for Route 589 shown to public
NANCY POWELL n Associate Editor
OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL
Area residents talk to SHA representatives about proposed improvements to Route 589 Tuesday at Stephen Decatur Middle School. OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL (Nov. 20, 2009) The State Highway Administration's proposed changes to Route 589 pleased some, but not others, who gathered Tuesday around posters in the cafeteria of Stephen Decatur Middle School to see the diagrams and talk to SHA representatives.
The SHA is proposing both shortterm and long-term improvements to the road's entire length from Route 113 to Route 50. The road strains under heavy traffic, which is expected to worsen after Ocean Downs Racetrack opens its slots facility. That is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend next year.
Racetrack owner William Rickman is responsible for improvements to Route 589 in front of the racetrack. Those improvements would include turn lanes, acceleration lanes and a traffic light.
The State Highway Administration proposes additional turn lanes and acceleration lanes at various places along the roadway as a short-term improvement. More extensive long-term improvements could include a landscaped median, bike lanes, walking trails and a six-lane bridge over Route 50.
"If they add turn lanes and acceleration lanes soon and add later the dualization, they will have to undo what they did first," said Paul Chambers, an Ocean City Realtor.
Chambers wants the work to be funded before the State Highway Administration continues its plans.
"They shouldn't do anything if they don't have the money to go forward with it," he said.
Ocean City resident Jay Hancock said other work is more important than the proposed Route 589 project and he does not want state money used on it at this time.
"Not a dime of state money until Route 113 is done through phase four," Hancock said.
Ocean Pines resident Bob Hulburd, who pressed the state for years to dualize Route 113, said he liked the signal light proposed for Showell School Road, but would love to see that road realigned with the entrance into the park on the other side of Route 589.
Safety was Hulburd's primary concern about Route 113 and it is his primary concern for Route 589.
"I don't care if it's so pretty or not," Hulburd said. "I want it to be safe."
Some of the preliminary proposals shown at the walk-around could adversely affect properties along the road. If someone wanted to sell their property, they would find it difficult if it is one of the properties that could be displaced or impacted even years from now, Chambers said.
The proposed short-term improvements to be completed by 2015 would not displace any properties, but would have an impact on two to five residential properties and from 14 to 17 commercial properties. The cost of the short-term improvements, which would include preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction, is estimated at $20 million to $25 million.
The proposed long-term improvements could displace five residential properties and three commercial properties. They could also affect from three to 40 residential properties and from one to 16 commercial properties. Those long-term improvements could cost from $23 million to $91 million, depending which design is preferred.
The State Highway Administration also proposes changes to the intersection at Route 589 and Route 50. The various concepts could displace from three to five residential properties and two commercial properties and affect from six to 10 residential properties and from two to four commercial properties. Cost estimates for changes to the intersection are estimated to be from $65 million to $74 million.
In one of the intersection concepts, Route 589 would be carried over Route 50 on a new six-lane bridge. Grays Corner Road would be closed just west of Route 589 because of safety concerns at the new interchange.
The proposed changes were too much for Whaleyville resident Amanda Tull, who grew up in a house on Route 589.
"I like it the way it is," Tull said. "It could use a little touch-up, nothing major."
Carmeletta Harris, SHA's project manager for the Route 589 work, said overall, people attending the walkaround at the school liked the proposals, but some had concerns about the need for a traffic light at Gum Point Road.
"We'll take that to the drawing board," Harris said.
