OCEAN CITY — Nearly three months after a contentious debate, the major repaving and sidewalk-widening project on Robin Drive got underway in earnest this week.
Back in September, as part of its ongoing review of infrastructure needs, the Mayor and Council intensely debated several options for milling and repaving Robin Drive, the densely populated corridor that runs east to west from Coastal Highway to the bayside at 28th Street.
While improving Robin Drive was clearly a priority, getting to a final option was difficult. For a span of three weeks in September, the Mayor and Council intensely debated several options on the table, each of which included widening the sidewalks to some degree, making the sidewalks along the corridor ADA-compliant and gaining a shared bicycle lane where possible.
Each of the options on the table included losing at least some on-street parking along the densely-populated corridor, which proved to be dividing point for the council. The on-street parking issues also rankled many residents in the Robin Drive area concerned over the potential impacts on the neighborhood.
The divided council ultimately approved Option 3A, which included eight-foot sidewalks on both sides of Robin Drive while expanding the vehicle travel lanes to 12.5-feet, facilitating wider lanes for a shared bicycle path. Three months later, the Robin Drive milling and repaving project began in earnest this week. Materials for the project were staged along the corridor by Tuesday and the actual milling and repaving were set to begin later this week.
The approved Option 3A differed from Option 2A only in that it extended further down Robin Drive from Coastal Highway including the wider sidewalks. For example, Option 2A would have gained wider sidewalks and wider travel lanes from Coastal Highway to Judlee Road, or a distance of around 380 feet, while extending the project from Coastal Highway to Sparrow Lane under Option 3A will gain the enhancements for a distance of 1,400, essentially tripling the length of the project.
Option 3A does cost around $100,000 more than Option 2A, but gives the most bang for its buck in terms of the total distance of the roadway improved. Nonetheless, the extra $100,000 needed to extend the repaving and sidewalk-widening project was a bone of contention among the councilmembers when the project was approved in September.
With the debate now in the past, the project is now underway in earnest. Public Works Director Hal Adkins said this week a repaving schedule was laid out to minimize the impact on businesses in the area during the holiday season.
“We’re going to start at Sparrow Lane and work back toward Bayshore Drive first,” he said. “Then, we’ll come back and work from Sparrow back toward Coastal Highway. We want to do that work closest to Coastal Highway in the dead of winter so we don’t impact those businesses on the corner like Dry Dock and Buxy’s during their busy holiday season.”
At the end of the day, Option 3A will impact on-street parking the least, and thus was most palatable to the council, and, perhaps more importantly, the residents along the corridor. Under Option 3A, six on-street spaces adjacent to the mini-golf course close to Coastal Highway will be lost, along with seven other spaces on the south side of Robin Drive. However, 11 new on-street spaces will be created along the curve on the north side of Robin Drive, for a net loss of two spaces.