Temporary Signal Required Driving Surface has outlived its Usefulness

(March 3, 2016) – While safe to drive over, the 48-year-old MD 956 (Patriot Parkway) Bridge over the Potomac River (Maryland/West Virginia line) is getting a new deck (driving surface). The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) will replace the bridge deck and paint the structural steel, requiring a temporary traffic signal to alternate eastbound and westbound traffic for one year.  Crews will start the project by closing the eastbound direction of MD 956 and switch to the westbound side. The deck replacement will be complete by late fall and the structural steel painting will be complete by summer 2017, weather permitting.

SHA is installing the temporary traffic signal within two weeks and active construction will begin by mid-March. Patriot Parkway has an average daily traffic volume of 6,500 vehicles daily; motorists from Maryland and West Virginia should plan extra travel time.

 

 

 

SHA’s contractor for the $5 million bridge deck replacement and painting project is East Coast Bridge, LLC of Nitro, West Virginia.

For the latest real-time travel information, call Maryland’s free 24-hour information line at 511 or log onto www.md511.org.