River Road Repair - Redux

Well, whaddya know? You send out emails - you get email in return!

My note to the MD State Highway Authority regarding the befouled traffic situation along River Road in Potomac Village of late yielded the following response:

"Your recent email was forwarded to the State Highway Administration's District 3 Office which is located in Greenbelt, MD. Our office is responsible for the administration of this project.

The roadway improvements that were started in September of this year are designed to alleviate the flooding problems as well as to promote safety and more efficient traffic movement in the area. I'm sure that you know that this location has experienced flooding conditions for years with the most recent event occurring about (2) weeks ago. Our plans require the installation of (2) large reinforced concrete pipes (RCP) at the existing culvert location that will allow for better stream flow when complete. The plastic pipe that you see on the job site now is only temporary pipe that will covey the stream flow known as Rock Run during the construction of the RCP.

You are correct in stating that construction activity has stopped for a period of time. This work stoppage is due to problems encountered during the initial start-up phase. In summary, we have identified some problems associated with an underground gas line as well as with the new RCP elevations. These problems required our designers to make some modifications to the design plans which have been completed and are presently being worked out with our contractor. I will be at the project's field office this Friday where we will be working out details for getting back to work.

Prior to this delay, we were on schedule to be completed in late Spring/Early Summer of 2007. It is my goal to get the project back on schedule and completed by our original completion date. I will know more in about a week.

Thank you for your email. Please feel free to contact me directly by phone or through email if you require additional information.

Sincerely,

Kevin Nowak

Assistant District Engineer-Construction"

I guess the fact that an actual warm-blooded human answered my inquiry (and not an automated response-generating computer program) should be heartening. It does make me wonder why haven't they attempted to convey this information to the traffic-impaired public previously....but I digress.

Anyway, they hope the project will be back on schedule and completed in by Summer of 2007. Guess those traffic tie-ups will just have to be endured until that time, but the note still doesn't address my question regarding whether or not this was a discretionary project, i.e., a job they could have initiated during the summer months (when River Road is far less congested) or if it was indeed an emergency repair job that mandated immediate attention. I'm not sure I'll get any response to that, but at least I know what's up and why the work suddenly stopped in October.

Special added bonus information!: Today (Thursday, Nov 30) I saw three workmen standing around the site (note: they were standing around talking - as in not doing any discernible work). Coincidence? Who knows. In any event, I'm glad to see some sort of activity at the site again, as it represent the first time in over a month that actual human-type mammals have been seen moving around that area.

Follow-up (Dec 1, 2006)

Looks as if I was a bit hasty. Those workers I saw at the River Road repair site on Thursday were fleeting. As of yesterday afternoon, the site was as deserted as a MoCo Government office on Friday at 5pm. Maybe those three guys I saw were there by mistake. Who knows? When the workers do re-appear, I'll let you know.....