STATE HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION CONTINUES IMPROVEMENTS ALONG THE THOMAS JOHNSON BRIDGE IN SOUTHERN MARYLAND           
          
Roadway Joint Replacements to Continue Through Fall          
          
          
(September 4, 2007) – Beginning Sunday night, September 9, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) will replace six aluminum joints along the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge in southern Maryland, which carries MD 4 between Calvert and St. Mary’s counties. This work is part of SHA’s ongoing system preservation program and should be complete by late November, weather permitting. Last year, two joints were replaced.          
          
Nighttime work is scheduled Sunday through Thursday between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Motorists using the bridge during this time will be directed across the bridge via a flagging operation. During the day, temporary steel plates with cold patch asphalt ramps will cover the roadway joints under construction. Both lanes will remain open during daytime hours.           
          
To alert motorists of the upcoming work, SHA will place variable message signs at five locations within the surrounding area:          
o Southbound MD 2/4, north of MD 231 (Hallowing Point Road);          
o Southbound MD 235 (Three Notch Road), north of MD 4;          
o Northbound MD 235, north of MD 4;          
o Southbound MD 4, just north of the bridge approach; and          
o Northbound MD 4, just south of the bridge approach.           
          
SHA will also conduct its routine bridge inspection of the entire structure over the course of two weekends, September 15th and 16th and September 22nd and 23rd. This inspection will take place between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m.          
          
SHA’s contractors are PDI Sheetz Construction Corporation of Linthicum Heights and Concrete General, Inc. of Gaithersburg. Customers with questions about this project or any other State-numbered routes in southern Maryland may contact SHA’s District 5 Office in Annapolis at 410-841-1000 or toll-free at 1-800-331-5603. SHA thanks motorists for their patience and cooperation and reminds them to use caution when driving through the work zone.