Mountain Road Paving Causes School Dismissal Delays

The resurfacing of Mountain Road on Tuesday caused delays with school dismissals at Chesapeake High School and Chesapeake Bay Middle School. 

On Tuesday morning, Patch reported that . In the afternoon, readers commented that the lane closures that were a result of the repaving created problems with school dismissals.

A few parents contacted Patch and commented on Facebook that students were stuck after school and traffic was backed up down Mountain Road towards Route 100.

Anne Arundel County Schools spokesman Bob Mosier said he was aware of the problems the paving caused at dismissal times.  and  were most affected, he said.

“The delays were caused by State Highway Administration [SHA] paving work,” Mosier wrote in an email to Patch. “We have been in contact with the SHA to discuss the possibility of working out a schedule where paving could occur outside of the windows of time surrounding school dismissals in that area.”

SHA spokesman Bob Rager said that the paving in front of Chesapeake High School was completed on Wednesday afternoon. He called Tuesday’s delays an “exceptional circumstance.”

“The contractor has been working standard daytime hours (9-3) on this job generally without incident, and has been aware of the high school departure times and worked to help get buses through the work zone as quickly and safely as possible,” Rager wrote in an email to Patch. “Again, the paving along this section of MD 177 was completed [Wednesday], so traffic in front of the school should be back to normal.”

The resurfacing of Mountain Road, also known as MD 177, has been a detailed project. Here’s a look at what has been completed, and what still needs to be done, according to Rager:

Section: MD 177 from Long Point Road to Pinehurst Road: 1.1 miles of milling/grinding, resurfacing and restriping.
Estimated Cost: $250,000
Status: Daytime work, paving completed, awaiting final striping.

Section: MD 177 from Schmidts Lane to South Carolina Avenue: 1.72 miles of milling/grinding, resurfacing and restriping.
Estimated Cost: $300,000
Status: This section has been milled, and resurfacing could start as early as Thursday, weather permitting. This resurfacing is scheduled to be night work, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sunday through Thursday nights. SHA expects the resurfacing to take about two weeks, weather permitting.

“The contractor for both jobs is American Infrastructure Inc. of Fallston,” said Ranger. “This work is being done under an area-wide contract funded through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).”

The final striping of Mountain Road from Long Point Road to Pinehurst Road will most likely occur in a few weeks, Rager said.