OCEAN CITY – Mayor Rick Meehan asked the Maryland State Highway Administration this week to consider adding digital speed signs to Coastal Highway.
During a fall update from State Highway Administration (SHA) District Engineer Mark Crampton this week, Meehan suggested digital speed signs for Coastal Highway.
“I think it’s a public safety issue and I think it’d be a valuable asset to Coastal Highway,” he said.
Crampton met with the council during a work session Tuesday to provide a fall update on a variety of items SHA teams are working on within the resort. He said the agency would be ordering signage regarding the six electric vehicle charging stations the town is working with Delmarva Power and Light to install in the West Ocean City Park and Ride lot this fall. Damaged and outdated signs have also been replaced in various areas and signal timing is being reviewed in areas where there were purported malfunctions over the summer, Crampton said.
As far as the Route 50 bridge, Crampton said work was underway with intermittent lane closures.
“A lot of that stuff is substructure work,” he said.
He added, however, that in the beginning of 2024 there would be equipment on the bridge to replace parts of the moveable span. He said various parts of the span would be replaced and nose locks would be retrofitted in an effort to prevent issues during the busy season. He referenced the instances in the past during the summer when the bridge has had difficulty closing after it’s been open.
“Between the machinery stuff getting replaced and the nose locks that should hopefully not have those kind of lock in issues that we had mid-summer, 5 in the afternoon,” he said.
Another issue Crampton brought up in response to the list of questions the town provided in advance of the meeting was the flickering lights on the bridge.
“We recently had a bonding issue on one of our lighting contracts,” he said, adding that the work had to be rebid. “In the next week or two you should see those lights getting addressed.”
Meehan asked Crampton to have SHA officials review the possibility of digitalizing speed signs on Coastal Highway. He said that because Ocean City had a constant flow of new visitors and because the speed limits did change throughout the year when special event zones were in place, he felt digital signs could be effective.
“We do change the speeds on Coastal Highway during special event zones,” he said. “That would allow us to do that and be very visible.”
Meehan added that SHA had the knowledge to determine where digital speed signs would be most useful and where they could be powered.
Councilman Tony DeLuca asked when crosswalks north of 26th Street would be updated to the more visible continental style. He noted that improved crosswalks were a priority for the Ocean City Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
“I’d have to get back to you,” Crampton said, adding that there may be other ways crosswalks could be tweaked to be more visible.
DeLuca said he’d also like to see SHA support the “reach the beach” initiative. He said he wanted to see fewer traffic lights between Baltimore and Ocean City.
“I realize it’s a long-term aspirational goal but … each of these meetings I bring up a couple specific bottlenecks that cost at least an hour each way during the peak season,” he said.
DeLuca said he’d like to see an overpass on Route 404 and on Route 213 as well as improvements near the outlets in Grasonville.
Crampton said he’d make SHA officials aware of the suggestions.
“I hit 404 and 213 every night on my commute home,” he said. “I can empathize with you.”
