A section of Md. 450 in Crownsville will be closed for the weekend while work crews continue to install new drainage pipes on the oft-flooded stretch of road.
The Maryland State Highway Administration said in a statement Thursday that Route 450, also known as Defense Highway, will be closed between The Ridges Gateway and Crownsville Road/South Haven Road from 11:45 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, until 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 12.
Drivers will be detoured onto the John Hanson Highway (U.S. 50/U.S. 301) and Md. 424 (Davidsonville Road), the administration said.
They鈥檒l be putting in larger culverts in order to divert water off the highway. Charlie Gischlar, with the State Highway Administration, told 草莓传媒 that the general area surrounding the Bacon Ridge Branch of the South River has seen flooding problems for years. Gischlar said the area of 450 around St. Stephens Church Road was closed 35 times last year.
Last year was one of the wettest on record, and this year is up there as well. 鈥淚t only takes a little bit of rain to close鈥� the road, Gischlar said.
The stretch of road that will close this weekend was also closed for a weekend the first stage of work in late June, Gischlar said, and there will probably be one more such closure after that to finish it off. About 8,000 vehicles travel that stretch of road per day, he said.
Drivers will notice a newly repaved segment of road, but the real difference, Gischlar said, is in what they won鈥檛 see: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to get the incidence of standing water as much; we鈥檙e going to reduce the chance of flooding 鈥� I can鈥檛 say it鈥檚 going to prevent it, because you never know with these storms we鈥檝e been getting.鈥�
They鈥檙e still looking at several options for a long-term fix to flooding in the rest of the area, Gischlar said.
草莓传媒’s John Domen contributed to this report.
