Despite the challenging fiscal times, the staff of Calvert County Government’s Department of Public Works is plowing, digging and moving ahead with numerous infrastructure projects. Department officials provided the Calvert County Commissioners with an overview of the capital projects during the board’s Tuesday, Dec. 11 meeting.
P. Rai Sharma, deputy director-engineering, reviewed the transportation projects in the pipeline.
The reconstruction of Fairground Road in Prince Frederick is estimated to cost $2.9 million and is currently in the right-of-way acquisition phase. Sharma said the reconstructed road would have sidewalks.
Chesapeake Boulevard will be part of the Prince Frederick Loop Road. The project, which is in the permit acquisition stage, realigns and widens the road with a roundabout being added. The project, which will start in 2013, will cost between $6 million and $8 million.
Intersection improvements to Prince Frederick Boulevard/Route 231 are to include a traffic signal. Department of Public Works Director Terry Carlson said it would take about 18 months to obtain from the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). “You get in line,” said Carlson. Preliminary design of the project is complete but work is on hold until SHA approves the design. Construction will cost about $2.5 million.
In the southern end of the county, design for the reconstruction of Dowell Road is 90 percent complete and right-of-way negotiations and acquisition are in progress. Also underway is the relocation of utilities. The total project cost is nearly $8 million and Sharma said construction should start next year. Of the current Dowell Road, Sharma admitted “it’s pretty dangerous but once we complete it will be first-class.”
