JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Top: Berlin Council members on Monday said traffic patterns near the new Ocean’s East development are unsafe. Bottom: Councilmember Dean Burrell said he preferred traffic patterns similar to the Ocean Pines medical center on Racetrack Road.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Dec. 13, 2018) Berlin Mayor and Council members are still not comfortable with traffic patterns coming out of the new Ocean’s East apartment complex onto Seahawk Road and near Stephen Decatur High School.

Town officials complained of unsafe conditions during the last several months and asked Planning Director Dave Engelhart to ask State Highway officials what could be done.

Engelhart said he was told “Seahawk Road is our road,” and that meant dealing directly with Oceans East contractors and developers.

He said a site meeting last fall was not attended by everyone involved in the project, so he and Wastewater Superintendent Jamey Latchum met with site contractors and paving contractors again, earlier that day.

“Jamey, I’ve got to give him credit, because he stood up for the town forcefully and said it was unacceptable what was there, as far as the condition of the road surface,” Engelhart said. “We walked the whole thing … and they came up with a two-part solution.”

According to Engelhart, contractors will first try to literally iron out some of the ripples in the road by heating it. If that doesn’t solve the problem to the town’s satisfaction, they will mill the road and resurface it.

“Either one of those solutions will wait for the spring, when we have warmer weather,” he said. “So, that’s what we all agreed upon onsite today.”

Council members had also asked for curbing on the road. Presently, a “traffic island” is painted onto the road surface to separate the four lanes of traffic coming out of the development and heading toward Route 50.

“State highway, of course, didn’t review it, but they didn’t think that that was necessary. They’re aware of what we put there [and said] the striping is adequate,” Engelhart said.

He added one solution would be to install reflective bumpers, but Mayor Gee Williams was not a fan.

“We’re not going back to that – that’s not an option,” Williams said. “Whatever’s cheapest is always [offered first]. We’re not looking for cheap, we’re looking for effective.”

As he had done during recent meetings, Williams again offered his support and the support of the council if political pressure were needed.

“We are experiencing the future now,” he said. “East Berlin … is a growing, dynamic place and we just can’t accept solutions from the distant past.”

Councilman Dean Burrell said the developer needed to solve the problem.

“When his project was being considered, he sat there and promised us that that traffic would go out of that development and would have only one way in and one way out,” he said. “And, like the mayor said, we’re not looking for cheap – we’re looking for effective.

“A curb in the highway needs to be put back [on the table], because that is the only way to ensure that that traffic goes the way in which it was planned,” Burrell continued. “I have seen and watched people make that U-turn.”

He compared the situation to the Peninsula Regional Medical Center complex on Racetrack Road in Ocean Pines, with only right turns possible both in and out of the lot.

“If you make that U-turn, you tear your car up, because they’ve got the pavement in the middle of the street. Needless to say, that U-turn is not made,” Burrell said.

“I think the day when you can just draw a stripe for something that’s not a traditional, everyday traffic pattern is not realistic,” Williams added. “We need to find a solution that will truly solve this problem.”

Engelhart said the traffic island “isn’t there as a deterrent, it’s there to separate the four lanes.”

“If we determine that it’s not sufficient, then they would have to add it,” he said.