It lists road projects throughout Md. during the summer months.
Annapolis, Md. (KM) The summer driving season will soon be here, and the Maryland Department of Transportation has a way to help motorists as they head out to their favorite vacation spot. The agency has released the “E-Road Ready 2017 Electronic Construction Brochure.” It lists the major highway construction projects taking place across the state during the warm weather months.
State Highway Administration spokesman Charlie Gischlar says this publication has been around for a few years, but, in the pats, it was a PDF document with numerous hyper links. “This year, we took it a step further and we went ahead and started to introduce the GIS technology and the layers of pages that could be put and have all the projects that we’re doing, all the major projects from Frederick west and east and south and north on that project page,” he says.
SHA says this electronic brochure can be obtained by going to the agency’s website, road.maryland.gov, and clicking on the E-Road Ready.
Gischlar says this GIS technology can help motorists who are heading out to their favorite vacation spot, such as Ocean City or Deep Creek Lake, by highlighting the highway projects along the way. Drivers can also use this site to find out which road projects are located near their homes. “A lot of people use that in their overall planning if they’re taking a day trip, a vacation, a stay-cation or if they’re going away for a week just so they can tell what they might hit going out of town, and conversely what they might hit going home,” he says.
“About once every three weeks it will be updated so then we can find out if it’s complete, whatever project it is; something new that may have started, or any kind of amendments we need to put in there,” Gischlar says.
MDOT and SHA say there will be a lot of highway projects this year and over the next few years in Maryland. “We have an historic financial commitment now of projects that’s due out the next couple of years that are on the roadway. So you’re going to see major projects,” he says.
Gischlar says it will be about 165 projects which will be listed in the “E-Ready 2017” electronic brochure.
“”Under the leadership of Governor Hogan and MDOT Secretary Pete Rahn and MDOT SHA is undertaking multiple projects that will free motorists from crippling congestion and provide needed upgrades and maintenance to our bridges,” says Gregory Slater, SHA Administrator.
If you are heading out this summer and come upon a highway project, SHA says slow down, and be alert when driving through construction areas because many travel lanes are very narrow. . “You might see 11-foot lanes instead of 12-foot lanes. So it gets tight in there. Or changing patterns,” says Gischlar. “So just be careful, pay attention and slow down is your best bet.”
By Kevin McManus