It's all part of the I-70 bridge replacement project.
The Maryland State Highway Administration says it will close East South Street in Frederick between Franklin Street and Monocacy Boulevard this weekend. The agency says crews will be doing excavation, roadbed construction and paving, along with applying new pavement markings at Monocacy Boulevard and East South Street. As a result, that intersection will also be closed.
"We preparing for Monocacy Boulevard Extended to be reopened in the coming weeks, weather permitting," says SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar. "And that necessitates the closure of this particular intersection at East South Street right around Monocacy Boulevard."
The agency says the road will be closed beginning Friday night, and continue until early Sunday morning, or sooner, if the weather cooperates, say Gischlar.
Detours will be set up. Motorists traveling south along East South Street will be diverted to Franklin Street to East Patrick Street to Monocacy Boulevard, and to westbound Interstate 70 to the interchange at Route 85. There, they will be directed to eastbound I-70 to South Street and Reichs Ford Road. Drivers heading north on to Reichs Ford Road will be detoured to eastbound I-70 to East Patrick Street to Monocacy Boulevard. Motorists heading along eastbound I-70 to South Street or the Frederick Fairgrounds should use the East Patrick Street exit (Exit 56), rather than the South Street exit. SHA says signs and construction barrels will be set up to guide motorists through the workzone.
This roadwork is part of the $44-million I-70 bridge replacement project over East South Street.
Gischlar is asking motorists who have endured delays and road construction in that area to be patient; the end is almost near. "It looks like we are going to be finished by the summer of 2013, so about another year," he says. "When I say completed, that's everything. That's everything out of the way, the project trailer, everything.
