Town construction updates

Teresa Grable

(1/24) Dollar General

The Dollar General Store construction is currently in the site work phase. This work is being performed by George & Sons out of Pennsylvania.

Work was put on temporary hold when a long abandoned and forgotten gas tank was discovered while tearing up the foundations from the old building, which required an evaluation by the Maryland Department of the Environment before work could resume. The property had both Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments done, which showed no contamination, indicating the tank was not leaking. Mayor Briggs said, "We commend the builder for taking the extra precaution to get MDE involved immediately."

The delay caused by the environmental assessment will set the project back about two weeks. In the meantime, Dollar General and the town are still coordinating with the State Highway Administration.

Mayor Briggs said the community is "eagerly awaiting the store opening. Work is steadily progressing, with site work projected by the builder to be completed by March."

Flat Run Bridge

Construction to replace the bridge on Baltimore Street (East Main Street) over Flat Run is tentatively scheduled to start in the summer of 2015, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA).

The plans presently call for the replacement of the bridge, which will also entail shifting the bridge slightly from its present location. Charlie Gischler, spokesman for the SHA, said, "The bridge will be shifted slightly—five feet—to the south." This will move the bridge away from the Jubilee property to enable a sidewalk to be added to the north side of the bridge. A sidewalk will also be added to the south side of the bridge.

Mayor Briggs said, "We asked the State to schedule a preconstruction meeting with us to discuss when construction will commence and how it will affect the general day to day operation of the town. As soon as we know something we will inform the residents."

Since only one lane of the bridge will be available during the construction, current plans call for a traffic light to be placed at the bridge to control the flow of traffic. Traffic will be allowed to flow in only one direction at a time for a set time period, similar to the traffic pattern used during the construction recently completed on RT 16 in Zora for the bridge over Toms Creek.

Frederick Street (South Seton Ave.)

For the past month, construction has been underway on the east side of South Seton Avenue in front of the Seton Shrine to install a new ten-inch water main for FEMA.

Currently, FEMA connects to the Emmitsburg water system through an aging water main from the Daughters of Charity’s connection to the town’s water system. FEMA’s new line will completely bypass the Daughters of Charity’s water system and allow FEMA to connect directly to the town’s water system. The construction of the new line required removal of the existing sidewalk, which will be replaced when the extension is finished. Per town code, new fire hydrants were also added during construction.

Once the town receives a drawing of the constructed water line, along with a final chemical report and the required easement documents from FEMA, the project will be considered complete and the water service will be turned on.