Ocean City mayor touts Route 90 safety concerns, asks for dualization
Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan took the opportunity to reiterate his desire to focus on safety improvements for Route 90 at the conclusion of a Tuesday county commission meeting focused largely on traffic improvements.
The “dualization” of Route 90 – adding a second lane to each side of the highway – is essential to bypassing the dangers present on the current, two-lane road, and asked the state and county to prioritize the issue, Meehan said during a period of comment from public officials following the Worcester County Commission meeting.
“It's about public safety,” Meehan said. “It's a two-lane highway which is inherently dangerous and can result in severe head-on collisions, and it has. An accident closes the roadway in both directions; completely shuts off access to Ocean City.”
Ocean City Fire Department Chief Chris Lamore addressed the issues that pertain to emergency service vehicles.
In 2001, Lamore said the town commissioned a study that predicted a 30 percent increase in emergency transports within 10 years, and an additional 25 percent in the following five years.
“We actually exceeded that,” he said. “We transport about 3,000 patients from the town of Ocean City to (Atlantic General Hospital) or (Peninsula Regional Medical Center).”
Most those patients are transported via Route 90, he said, and he’s witnessing decreases in transport time due to traffic accidents or backups along that highway, something that impacts the well-being of patients.
READ MORE: Ocean City man ID'd as pedestrian hit by trooper during Cruisin' weekend
READ MORE: Letter: Love America or not, but don't disrespect our national symbols
In addition to those response times, Lamore said another safety hazard is created by emergency units forcing other drivers off the road as they rush to local medical centers.
It isn’t a safe situation, he said, and one that creates potential complications that need to be addressed.
Inevitable, future evacuations are another complication, Meehan said.
“We've all been watching television the last few weeks and have seen the horrific problems these storms have caused in other areas,” he said. “We aren't immune to that here. We've been very lucky. We've been prepared, but we've been very lucky.
"We know that time is going to come, as it has in the past, where we have to evacuate Ocean City.”
Once the water starts to rise as it tends to in downtown Ocean City and along the Delaware border, he said, that leaves essentially one course out — Route 90.
The Worcester Commissioners were receptive to Meehan’s request.
Worcester County Commission President Madison Bunting reiterated that the land ownership necessary for dualization is established, something Meehan alluded to during his plea.
“This needs attention, and it's plain that (prior commissioners knew) how to move forward on this,” Bunting said.
The meeting concluded by Ocean City officials focusing on details surrounding the Maryland Department of Transportation’s 5-year transportation draft as they impacted Worcester County.
Included in the draft were several programs and (where applicable) their associated costs, including:
• $59.9 million to upgrade U.S. 113 as a 4-lane divided highway from north of MD 365 at Public Landing Road to Five Mile Branch Road, a 4.3-mile stretch, including bicycle and pedestrian accommodations where appropriate.
• $143,000 for work on Coastal Highway between 62nd Street and Convention Center Drive, including an estimated $10,900 for pedestrian and bike elements.
• Conduct a study to replace the Route 50 Bridge over the Sinepuxent Bay, investigating options to eliminate or upgrade the drawspan structure.
• $2.012 million in grants for the Ocean City Municipal Airport.