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DENTON – The Caroline County Commissioners presented their six priority requests to state transportation officials Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, at the Health and Public Services Building in Denton.
On hand to discuss the fiscal year 2025 Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP) priorities at the 9 a.m. meeting were Maryland Department of Transportation Acting Secretary Samantha Biddle, Motor Vehicle Administrator Chrissy Nizer, State Highway Administrator Will Pines and District 2 Engineer Ken Fender, Office of Regional Aviation Assistance Director Ashish Solanki, MTA Locally Operated Transit Systems Director Travis Johnston, and MDTA Director of Planning and Program Development Melissa Williams.
Caroline County Commission President Travis Breeding thanked the officials for local improvements and a good working relationship with Fender, who is based at the SHA District 2 headquarters in Chestertown.
“I know that safety has been a priority for you and your department, and the commissioners do share that priority,” Breeding said.
Biddle said she appreciated the revised priorities letter. “I think the safety focus there is very clear, and we look forward to … continued conversation(s).”
Breeding said completing the dualization of Route 404 remains a top priority “as we do see quite a few accidents associated with that stretch of road, especially in the summertime.”
The Commissioners presented six CTP priorities to “improve safety, support economic growth, and enhance quality of life for our residents.”
Because state-maintained roads throughout the county “require immediate attention due to deteriorating surface conditions and insufficient drainage,” Priority A includes comprehensive resurfacing of MD 313 from MD 404 to Federalsburg, including repairs to pavement, shoulders, and stormwater infrastructure; completing the resurfacing project on MD Route 16 from Lake Drive to MD 404; and “general resurfacing, shoulder repair, drainage improvement, and signage upgrades across Caroline County’s state road network.”
Priority B includes the final phase of the dualization of Route 404 from Harmony Road to Route 16 East at Greenwood Road because “(t)his segment is essential for ensuring safe and efficient east-west travel across the mid-shore region,” stated the CTP letter to Biddle. The Commissioners asked MDOT to begin preliminary planning and design, allocate funding for engineering and right-of-way acquisition, and engage with local stakeholders for project coordination.
Commissioner Frank Bartz urged officials to prioritize the final dualization of Route 404. “It continues to bottleneck all summer,” he said. “It's an accident waiting to happen.”
As “a vital connector for residents in the western part of the county (that) serves as a gateway to Queen Anne’s County,” rebuilding and resurfacing MD 454 (Crownstone Road) from Marydel to Templeville is Priority C.
Likewise, Priority D, rebuilding and resurfacing MD 313 with drainage improvements between Greensboro and Goldsboro “are necessary to restore safe travel conditions and extend the life” of the “major north-south route within the county and is essential for local mobility and emergency response.”
The Commissioners requested as Priority E restriping MD 317 (Burrsville Road) at the intersection of MD 313, adding a right turn lane to “help enhance traffic flow and improve safety for all drivers.”
The Commissioners recently added Priority F, “adding a staggered left-turn lane to improve traffic operations. Traffic turning left onto MD 404 frequently fails to yield to vehicles crossing from Double Hills Road, creating ongoing safety concerns.”
Breeding thanked officials for completing the safety improvements at MD 404 and River Road, “a very important road in the county,” he said. “(River Road) services our largest high school, and it comes off of one of the most dangerous roads in the county. … We've had a lot of students and faculty that have been involved in accidents there, so we really do appreciate that.”
Breeding also thanked Fender for accommodating requests for road resurfacing and collaboration between SHA and the county public works department.
Fender assured the Commissioners that a longstanding request for a lighted signal at Route 404 and Gay Street is still viable when developers finance and build out Commerce Drive from Walmart to that future intersection.
“That will be a huge improvement to the town of Denton and to Caroline County,” Breeding said. “I think that project will bring much needed development and should alleviate traffic issues that we have right now in that area.”
Biddle said recent discussions between SHA and county representatives about the SHA Local Bridge Program produced a “direct line of communication with our bridge experts in this critical area of system preservation and project management.”
She said MDOT is “utilizing every dollar to make strategic investments” in three overarching priorities: enhancing safety, maintaining the system and “driving economic growth across the state.”
With $400 million in state transportation funding, Biddle said an additional $300 million in federal funding will prevent “sustained and deepened cuts to transportation,” she said. “The draft CTP also keeps Highway User Revenue funding at the current level through fiscal year 2027.”
Breeding emphasized the need to repair structures that are “ending or approaching end of life” so that “we don’t have to close any more bridges in the county,” he said. “We've got quite a few stacked together that are going to need funding, and help accessing the federal dollars, I think, is really our only path forward to be able to handle all of them.”
Pines said SHA is “serious about the safety of all users – it's our top priority,” and catalogued improvements made during the past year, including completing nearly $3 million of resurfacing three miles of MD 306 from Liberty Church Road to the Delaware line, as well as 2.7 miles of MD 16 from Pinetown Road to Lake Drive. Resurfacing is planned in 2026 on MD 314 from Kibler Road to the Delaware state line.
“We completed the $3.4 million replacement of the MD 16 bridge over Mill Creek near Denton, and we completed the signal project of MD 313 and 317, one of the county's top priorities,” Pines said. “This summer, we finished the $1.5 million safety improvement at MD 328 and MD 404 adding left turn lanes from MD 328 to MD 404 as well as implementing signal phasing.”
Pines said the Federal Highway Administration is currently reviewing the Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study of the MD 404 corridor, and once approved, “we'll coordinate with the county to identify potential (smaller) breakout projects that we could pursue.”
Williams presented a brief update on enhanced physical protection of the William Preston Lane Memorial Bridge and the Chesapeake Bay crossing study. She said public hearings will be held in early 2026.
Johnson said MTA was “proud to support Caroline County by providing you over $1 million in grants for operations and preventative maintenance to support your local transit operations provided by Delmarva Community Transit in conjunction with Kent and Talbot counties.”
Nizer reported that “MVA branch offices on the Eastern Shore continued with a five-minute wait time for the second year in a row,” and credited “wonderful employees on the Shore.” She encouraged Marylanders to register for a myMVA online account to access over 60 services. EZPass is now available at the Easton branch MVA. A safety outreach program for youngsters is available at the Denton library, and the MVA is working with the Maryland Soybean Board to promote safety around slow moving vehicles.
Breeding said he “couldn’t believe how easy it was” to use the myMVA site, “so hopefully multiple other people in the county have experienced that.”
