University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH), a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System, and key partners celebrated the reopening of Maryland Route 662 between Airport Road and Hiners Lane with a ribbon cutting ceremony today.
This section of Route 662 had been closed and traffic detoured to Route 50 since last September to facilitate construction work related to the new University of Maryland Shore Regional Medical Center, now being built on Longwoods Road. Route 662 is now open to traffic, with base pavement, temporary striping and temporary signage in place to ensure safe travel. Final paving, striping and signage are delayed until later in the hospital construction process, when potential wear and tear caused by construction vehicles will no longer be a concern.
“We are delighted to reopen Route 662 on schedule, before the summer traffic is in full swing,” said Ken Kozel, President, UM SRH. “We had projected a May reopening, and thanks to the diligence of our partners Whiting Turner/Mahogany and David A. Bramble, Inc., it was accomplished despite more than 60 days lost due to bad weather.”
The development and completion of the core and shell drawings over the last several months for the new regional medical center facilitated the approval and issuance of the building permit for this phase of construction to start on schedule. “The achievement of this milestone is a monumental feat that should be celebrated as it took hard work and close collaboration among the UM SRH Project Team, the Town of Easton, Talbot County and Easton Utilities”, said Lu Ann Brady, Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UM SRH. “Weather permitting, digging and pouring foundations will begin this week and vertical construction will follow. Over the next 12 months our community will be able to watch the six-story outer shell of the facility go up.”
The final fit-out drawings (plans for the inside of the building including all equipment, infrastructure such as electrical, plumbing and IT, walls, flooring and furnishings) were completed and delivered to the town for approval this week. These plans will also allow for approximately 30 additional bids to be published and awarded for the remaining materials needed for the building. It is anticipated that by mid-June, bids covering 99 percent of the rest of the project will be in hand.
“The goal to build a state-of-the-art regional facility for our mid-shore community has been a long time coming – and will continue to require our unwavering dedication,” said Kozel. “Stopping along the way to celebrate our successes is essential and I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of our entire UM SRH team and community partners.”
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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