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Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette Logo Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette

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Back luxury model for Rt. 90 project

The State Highway Administration’s Route 90 corridor planning and environmental study released last week makes for interesting reading … for people who also get a kick out of reading food labels.

As writing goes, the content of the SHA’s report is drier than a box of cereal, even though it does offer some insight into what the possibilities are for moving more traffic more quickly and safely.

But that’s where this project and its proposed configurations remain — on the state’s list of possibilities. Although Ocean City and Worcester County elected officials have told state highway officials that converting two-lane Route 90 to a four-lane highway is their number one priority, the project’s official ranking on the state’s list of things to do is “We’ll get to it when we can.”

That’s denoted by the “TBD” — To Be Determined — assigned to the most critical phases of this project — right-of-way acquisition and construction — as listed in the SHA project schedule.

That’s not to say the expansion of Route 90 and the construction of a new Assawoman Bay bridge won’t happen at some point, but it does mean that motorists will have years to figure out the best way to navigate between Ocean Pines and Ocean City when the construction phase finally does arrive.

Since that’s the case, residents, frequent out-of-town visitors and local officials have nothing to lose and everything to gain by getting behind the luxury model of highway-bridge reconfigurations should the state issue another call for public opinion.

Four lanes, new bridges, and pedestrian/cycling access all along the route would be the top-of-the-line model. It costs nothing to insist on the best, and given the amount of time that will elapse before these TBDs become actual dates, it’s fair to say that anything, including good things, can happen.