Maryland highway officials are planning to put a traffic light at Route 50 and Whaleyville Road, one of Worcester County’s most dangerous intersections.
The announcement came just one day after a two-vehicle crash at the intersection 10 miles west of Berlin that shut down the roadway and sent five people to the hospital. Maryland State Police are investigating.
Worcester County Commissioner President Ted Elder (District 4, Western) said most crashes seem to occur as motorists cross the westbound lanes of Route 50 from Whaleyville Road (Route 610) into the median.
“It’s probably the worst intersection in Worcester County,” he said at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting in Snow Hill. “I’m not a traffic expert, but we need to find some way to alleviate that, and the sooner the better.”
Mark Crampton, District 1 engineer for the State Highway Administration, said the traffic signal design should be completed by this time next year. He did not provide a construction date.
He agreed that the intersection, located near the Worcester-Wicomico county line, ranks highest in Worcester County for the number and severity of crashes. He called the signal its “number one priority.”