By: John Domen
Drivers on a stretch of Maryland Route 210 have been dodging construction, ruining tires on rough road and waiting through delays at an improvement project that was supposed to take two years. Six years later, they’re still wondering when it will be finished, and state highway officials have some answers.
Work began in 2016 on the interchange where Md. 210 intersects with Livingston Road to the east and Kerby Hill Road to the west. It’s near lots of apartment buildings and plenty of pedestrians.
The end result will be an overpass allowing cross traffic to pass over, turning traffic to exit and through traffic to keep going without having to stop for a light. There are also paths for pedestrians and cyclists, which should help with safety on what’s called the area’s most dangerous road.
The project was supposed to finish in 2018 at a total cost of about $82.5 million. William “John” Gover, an assistant district engineer with the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, told WTOP the work is now scheduled to finish by the end of August and cost $107.6 million.
Drivers just want it done.
“It’s terrible in the morning; it’s terrible late at night when they work on it,” said Kevin Selman, who lives in Temple Hills and often drives through there. “The most terrible thing about it is it’s taking forever.”
The work turned Selman’s drive to his son’s house in Fort Washington into an ordeal that, at times, lasted up to an hour. He also pointed out that the highway also serves commuters coming to D.C. and Virginia from nearby Charles County, Maryland. “You can sit in that traffic for like two to three hours, man.”
Read more at WTOP.
