EASTON — The Talbot County Council held a work session Tuesday afternoon to discuss the potential eight-month closure of Route 662 as construction for a new regional medical center commences.
The University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is building the new hospital off Longwoods Road next to U.S. Route 50 and just north of the Easton Airport.
UM Shore Regional Health Attorney Ryan Showalter said that the hospital design has “changed slightly” from versions produced a decade ago, when discussions of the new hospital first began to gain momentum.
Current designs have portions of the hospital sitting in the middle of existing Route 662. To accommodate the plans, a stretch of the road will have to be relocated.
Under original county legislation allowing for the hospital’s construction, the new road was required to be completed before portions of 662 were surrendered to Shore Regional Health.
“One of the reasons why we now have a conflict is that the elevation of the hospital will be higher than the existing bed of the road,” Showalter said.
“Keeping 662 open to traffic until the new 662 is constructed would literally require not constructing one-third of the hospital, that arm of the hospital, because we can’t pour the concrete for that and finish the building in stages,” he added.
He said temporary closure of the road will prevent delays in construction of the hospital, which is slated to begin in spring 2025, with doors tentatively opening in summer 2028.
The legislation that Talbot County Council members will consider is an amendment to Bill 1231, which dates back to 2013. Its original form “conditions the transfer” of the old route to Shore Regional Health on the completion of the new road.
County Attorney Patrick Thomas explained that the amended bill would allow for that transfer before completion of the new stretch of 662 under three contingencies:
The State Highway Administration approves the closure from Oct. 1 to May 1.
A road transfer agreement amendment is executed to transfer the road from the state to the county before it’s then transferred to Shore Health.
A road inspection and contribution agreement is executed.
The latter agreement would facilitate improvements to county roads that are expected to serve as unofficial detours for the closure — Hiners Lane, Hailem School Road, Goldsborough Neck Road and Airport Road. The State Highway Administration’s official detour will be U.S. Route 50.
Council members previously voiced concerns for nearby county roads, especially if farm operators are forced to use them instead of Route 662. Showalter and Thomas both said Shore Health will contribute financially towards upgrading those roads, along with being responsible for the construction of the realigned Route 662.
Scott Saxman, division vice president at Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, said the company is “very confident” that the road’s reconstruction will be done by May 1.
Thomas emphasized that the timeline for the legislation — which is set as an emergency bill — is tight, since the Maryland Board of Public Works is required to approve the transfer of the Route 662 land to the county.
Council Member Lynn Mielke pushed for Showalter to explain why the county was not involved in discussions sooner.
“I understand that this issue first arose in a meeting the hospital had back in February to consider this change,” Mielke said. “And of course the county was not invited to that meeting or informed of that meeting to participate, is that correct?” Mielke asked Showalter.
“I don’t remember. I know we’ve had discussions about how to get here,” Showalter responded, adding that he’s had multiple meetings every week since December.
Showalter said that all of the “core infrastructure” of the building design has stayed the same, and that “shifting the entire building to avoid the road requires redesign of the entire site” along with “substantial” impacts on cost.
“What is that cost?” Mielke asked.
“I don’t know,” Showalter said. He said he could request an estimate if needed.
“You haven’t convinced me that this is an emergency,” Mielke said of the impacts to the project if Route 662 is not temporarily closed. “ … There’s a possibility that this isn’t really going to be completed by May, we may have another summer of diverted traffic.”
Council Vice President Pete Lesher stated he’s “fully behind this project,” but said he wants to see the full project held true to timelines if Route 662 must be temporarily closed.
“There’s this hiccup that we have, that we hadn’t anticipated,” he said. “The hazard and inconvenience of closing the route … I think we just want to be assured that this is absolutely necessary.”
The legislation to amend Bill 1231 was introduced during Tuesday’s County Council meeting. A public hearing is set for Aug. 27.
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