LA PLATA — The state will pay to rebuild Charles Street through downtown La Plata, and the town will take care of the new sidewalks, plazas and landscaping for good, under an agreement the Town Council approved Oct. 27.
The council adopted Resolution 26-74 by voice vote, authorizing Town Manager Chuck Stevens to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Maryland State Highway Administration for the MD 6 Community Safety and Enhancement Project, from U.S. 301 to Willow Lane. Councilman Gregory Sampson Jr. was absent.
Signing the agreement is a required step before the state can finalize the project and advertise it for construction bids, Stevens said. The state’s latest six-year transportation program puts the project’s cost at $16.3 million, nearly $15 million of it federal aid, with construction expected to begin in fiscal 2028. That budget year starts July 1, 2027.
What gets built
Stevens said the project has two parts. The first covers streetscape improvements, landscaping, curb and gutter, and rebuilding sidewalks to meet the state’s Americans with Disabilities Act standards. It also includes one or more plaza areas that may have trees, shrubs, benches and green space, and the widening of a connecting road parallel to MD 6 between Graves Avenue and Oak Avenue. The state program also describes mountable roundabouts meant to slow traffic while still letting trucks and emergency vehicles through.
The second part is lighting. At the town’s request, the state will build the concrete bases, handholes and conduit for future pedestrian lights while the corridor is torn up, so the town won’t have to dig up new sidewalks and plazas later. The town will then buy and install the poles and fixtures.
Graves Avenue will change, too. The section between MD 6 and the new connecting road will become one-way, and northbound drivers will reach Charles Street from Oak Avenue by way of the widened connector. In response to a question from Councilman Paul Guttenberg, Stevens read a confirmation from the state’s project manager that the rest of Graves Avenue, south of the connector, will stay two-way.
Who pays for what
According to Stevens’ staff report, the state will:
- Design the project at its own expense and send final plans to the town, which gets 10 working days to comment.
- Buy and pay for any additional property it needs. The town grants the state free access to town-owned right-of-way until the project is accepted.
- Advertise, award, build and inspect the project and pay all construction costs, including utility relocations. It will care for new plants until it accepts the finished work.
The town picks up three kinds of costs. Staff time for plan review will come out of existing budgets. The light poles, fixtures and installation will be priced and scheduled through the capital improvement plan. And once the state accepts the project, the town takes on maintenance, repair and replacement of the sidewalks, plazas, landscaping, furnishings and lighting in perpetuity, costs Stevens said will go into future public works budgets.
Any changes the town asks for after plans are final, or during construction, need state approval and are the town’s to pay. The town must reimburse the state within 30 days of an invoice, and the state can take unpaid amounts out of La Plata’s share of highway user revenues. The state may also make field changes during construction; it will ask for the town’s input but doesn’t need it.
The agreement recites a nominal $1 in consideration and has no direct capital cost to the town as designed, Stevens said. He said the town is financially able to meet its obligations through its normal budget process.
Lights, SMECO and sidewalks
Guttenberg asked whether the lighting split matches the cost-sharing the council agreed to earlier this year, when it chose optional features with the state. Stevens said it does. The council discussed pedestrian lighting at a May 12 work session and, on June 23, adopted Resolution 26-39, a letter supporting the project’s move to construction.
Councilman Tyjon “TJ” Johnson said he had understood the state would install everything at the town’s shared cost. Stevens said the cost figures haven’t changed, but who does the work has: the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative will handle the above-ground installation, working in parallel with the state’s underground work. Engineers from SMECO and the state began exchanging information after a joint call several weeks ago, he said. The town already works with the co-op on its LED streetlight conversion.
Guttenberg also asked whether the permanent maintenance duty conflicts with the town’s sidewalk maintenance ordinance. Stevens said it does not. The agreement only means the town can never hand the sidewalks back to the state, he said; the council can still decide whether the town or the adjacent property owner maintains them, a policy question still under discussion.
Years in the making
The project was listed as a county and town priority as early as the 2022 state transportation tour. This year’s program moved it from development into the construction program, adding $10 million for design and construction.
The corridor carries about 22,400 vehicles a day, a figure the state projects will reach 31,800 by 2046. Stevens tied the project to the town’s strategic plan goals of a park-like, walkable downtown and to the 2020 comprehensive plan’s emphasis on a strong downtown core. He said installing the lighting conduit during construction follows the same one-dig approach the town is using for its utility work along MD 6.
