Digging Into MD 235

Commuters, shoppers, and residents who have inched along MD 235 in St. Mary’s County will be getting a break from the congestion, beginning next Spring. Four engineering design firms and a landscape architect have teamed with the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA) to widen five miles of highway, between MD 4 and MD 246. The $30 million MD 235 Improvement Project, staged in three sections, will accommodate a 40 percent increase in traffic, stemming from the recent addition of 5,000 positions at the nearby Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

As an interim measure to expedite the daily commute, crews reconstructed 3.5 miles of shoulder, between MD 4 and Pegg Road. The new lanes have relieved some congestion and will help MSHA maintain traffic during subsequent construction.

Section I—MSHA selected KCI Technologies to design two miles of the widening project, from north of MD 4 to MD 237. Meeting at weekly breakfast clubs with MSHA Deputy Chief Engineer Robert D. Douglass, PE; District 5 staff; and the design teams, KCI’s project manager Timothy L. Kassir, PE, kept the fast-track Section I Project on schedule and under budget. MSHA’s early success with the Interim Project and Section I served as an important show of faith—driven largely by Maryland’s governor—to area residents and Patuxent NAS officials, who lobbied for highway improvements. The widening will improve safety, relieve congestion, reduce commuting times, accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists, and create a more enjoyable drive through the County’s “Main Street.” KCI submitted final plans, specifications, and cost estimates in mid-October and construction is scheduled to start in Spring 1999 and last through Spring 2001.

Sections II & III—Final designs for Sections II and III of the improvement project are scheduled for completion by other engineering firms in late October. Construction of Section II, extending two miles from MD 237 to north of Pegg Road, should begin in Fall 1999 and be completed in Fall 2001. A schedule for the one mile of improvements to Section III, Pegg Road to MD 246, will be determined once funds are appropriated.

Public Utilities


While KCI’s highway engineers have been sprinting toward final submissions, the Bell Atlantic Unit of KCI’s Public Utilities Division has been racing to relocate more than six miles of telephone conduit along the roadway. The unit started conduit designs for Section I in October 1997, before plans were finished for the new right-of-way. “Our relocation had to stay within the existing right-of-way, but still accommodate the proposed roadway construction,” according to KCI’s Utilities Project Manager Scott Riddle. “So instead of using conventional trenching, we buried the conduit at 15 to 20 feet using a deep, directional drilling technique, so the State could run stormdrains overhead, if necessary. But as more road plans caught up to us for Sections II and III, we introduced a mix of directional drilling and conventional trenching, which cut costs. It really took an incredible amount of coordination with the State, Bell Atlantic, and Washington Gas to meet extraordinary schedules.”

Ray Harding of Bell Atlantic, agrees. “KCI is in a unique position of having to meet some tough commitments to both Bell Atlantic and MSHA.” Meeting those commitments required weekly site meetings and daily phone calls and progress reports.

Bell Atlantic completed construction of Section I in June and is one third of the way through Section II. Scott estimates that KCI is halfway through the overall design, which beyond the six miles of main conduit baseline includes plans for approximately 42 manholes. KCI is also relocating gas lines and designing plans for new service along MD 235 for Washington Gas.

In May, KCI expanded its public utility services to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, adding an office in Easton. Division Chief John J. Leslie, a 30-year veteran of Bell Atlantic engineering, will direct the new operation.


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