Work Advancing on New Md. Highway

On Sunday night, the Maryland State Highway Administration will begin installing a dozen 140-foot-long concrete beams over Shady Grove Road for a bridge that is part of a new highway across the Maryland suburbs.

Construction on this portion of the intercounty connector will occur weeknights between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, then again on Sunday through Wednesday, June 29 to July 2, then Tuesday through Thursday, July 8 to 10 and Sunday through Thursday, July 13 to 17.

The work will require periodic 15-minute shutdowns of Shady Grove Road between 11:30 p.m. and 4 a.m. just south of Tupelo and Epsilon Drives. Double lane closures will occur between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., Sunday through Thursday nights, through July 17.

This will affect traffic on Shady Grove Road from north of Mill Run Drive to the Shady Grove Road/Interstate 370 interchange, but all the side streets, driveways and sidewalks will be accessible.

So far, the $2.4 billion connector project is on time and on budget, the State Highway Administration says. The bridge is part of the Contract A section of the connector. That's the portion from I-370/I-270 to east of Georgia Avenue. The first seven miles of the highway, planned for half a century, are scheduled to open by early 2011.