Dolfield Road Opening Delayed Again
The road, which was closed by Hurricane Irene in August, may open in January, public works says.
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It's another month nearly gone by, and another delay for the re-opening of Dolfield Road in Owings Mills, a Baltimore County Public Works spokesman said.
The road is now scheduled to open in "two to three weeks," David Fidler said.
Dolfield Road, between Lakeside Boulevard and Deer Park Road, has been closed since Hurricane Irene slammed Owings Mills in August. Rain from the storm caused a nearby stream to overflow its banks and flood Dolfield.
The county has already delayed the road's opening twice. In October, the goal was for Dolfield Road to open in November.
But on Nov. 11, Fidler said work would not even begin on Dolfield until Nov. 21. At that rate, he said the road was scheduled to reopen by Dec. 21.
Now, it doesn't appear the road will open until January. Fidler blamed the delay on changes county engineers had to make to repair designs.
"They expanded the work they're doing to be sure that there won't be future problems with erosion and water," Fidler said. Apparently part of the work has involved strategically placing large rocks in the problem stream to control water flow.
About a 70-foot area is affected, Fidler said, and the project will cost the county $200,000, which is within the $100,000 to $300,000 range public works expected in October.
John W. Brawner Contracting, in Cockeysville, is on site and handling the repair, Fidler said.
Though many in the area have become frustrated with the road closure, Fidler said the length of time has not been unreasonable, based on the breadth of the repair being done.
He also said if there were a way to open up one lane of travel on Dolfield Road, public works would do so.
"Whenever they can keep a lane of traffic open, they will," Fidler said. "The county wants to keep traffic flowing."
Lisa
7:05 am on Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Thanks for the update! Traveled up the road the other day and could tell that it wouldn't be opening up this week, just from the work that HADN'T been done. Obviously no one important travels this road or it would have been fixed many weeks ago. Hopefully they will do what needs to be done to correct the problems from the stream. They would be smart to straighten that stretch of road, rather than just patch it up. Looking forward to gettign back to my normal pattern of travel, even if it has been delayed again.
Lauretta Nagel
11:46 am on Thursday, December 22, 2011
I saw an SHA dump truck coming out of the closed off area with a load of dirt! I was so excited...it'll be open again soon!
Lauretta Nagel
11:24 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
OK, it's past Dec 21st and the road is STILL closed. WT?
Danielle Jorden
6:08 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
Despite what Fidler says, 5 months is an unreasonable amount of time if it makes you re-route your way to work adding time and traffic on to your commute...he should personally affected then say it hasn't been an unreasonable amount of time.
Alisa Bralove-Scherr
8:47 am on Thursday, January 5, 2012
I finally saw two work trucks heading down there this morning. I gope this means we will see the road open again soon. It's sad that our elected officials didn't push for this to happen sooner.
Sarah Wardenfelt
11:55 am on Monday, January 16, 2012
Can we get an update on this, like an actual date it will be open? I'd like to cut out the extra hour a week this has added to my commute!
Lisa
2:54 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
Dolfield Road is OPEN!
Sarah Wardenfelt
3:39 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
It is open but it is also in HORRIBLE condition! We waited 5 months for the road to be like driving through a series of potholes and the road is even more NARROW than it was before! I hope they're going to be repaving it!
Alisa Bralove-Scherr
4:28 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
I heard from a neighbor that they do plan to repave it. Hopefully this is true.
Sarah Wardenfelt
1:45 pm on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Any word on when this will be repaved? It's in horrible condition still.