BERLIN – Area residents again voiced traffic safety concerns related to an apartment complex on Seahawk Road.
Berlin residents Gabe and Diana Purnell approached the Berlin Town Council this week to ask for road improvements in front of the Oceans East apartments on Seahawk Road. They said the striping on the road is difficult to see and the small median in the road only makes matters worse.
“I’ve seen some very close accidents,” Diana Purnell said. “The buses and everything, I don’t know what you can do about that piece of cement. That’s very dangerous.”
Purnell, who is also a county commissioner, approached the council with her husband this week to ask for improvements to Seahawk Road. Residents and officials have voiced concerns regarding the traffic pattern in front of Oceans East since 2018. While various changes have been made to address the issue, Purnell said it was still difficult to navigate Seahawk Road in front of the apartment complex. Her husband said they traveled the road every day.
“It’s very very dangerous. In fact, the markings are just about gone…,” Gabe Purnell said. “I feel the markings need to be done on a periodic basis.”
He said the faded striping made it hard for motorists to see the turn into Oceans East. He added that motorists often drove right over the median that was in the middle of the roadway.
Mayor Zack Tyndall told the Purnells the town had already been in communication with the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) regarding striping.
“They have indicated they have no idea when that will happen,” Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said.
Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols said she’d recently inquired on the situation and found out the SHA striping truck that served the Eastern Shore was out of service.
“They’re looking at next year,” she said.
Bohlen said town staff was in the process of reaching out to private contractors that might be able to re-stripe the area.
“The state’s truck breaking down threw a monkey wrench,” she said.
Tyndall said the town had at one time looked into increasing lighting in the area but hadn’t been able to because the electric poles on the street were not the Town of Berlin’s poles.
The Purnells asked the council to keep the public informed as far as potential improvements.
“We’ll put the call in,” Tyndall said. “We’ll try our best.”
