TODDVILLE, Md. — Summer road construction in a rural part of southern Dorchester County is changing how the county handles medical emergencies, prompting a local store to be outfitted with a basic life-saving kit in case emergency response is slow.
David Beverley owns Elijah's General Store in Toddville and also works as an EMT. As he runs the store, he's now also responsible for using a basic life-saving kit the county gave him.
"What we have here is enough to start the process of pre-hospital care, but it's not enough to really save you in a very serious medical emergency," Beverley said.
Beverley said response times in this southern part of the county from Madison firehouse were already up to 35 minutes. Now, construction on a state-maintained roadway water crossing, which spans Worlds End Creek along Route 336, may make EMS response times even longer.
The crossing, located at an area known as Worlds End Turn, sits along State Route 336. Additionally, the construction area is known locally as Golden Hill Road on the west side of the turn and Lakesville Road on the east.
Dorchester County has been discussing the need to replace it for more than a year, citing the site's long history of flooding during major storms and periods of exceptionally high tides.
According to some residents, the detour route also floods, meaning that if the road floods from tidal waters, the town will have to rely on the state police medevac helicopter for a serious medical emergency, which is already part of the area's normal emergency response.
Mark Crampton, Maryland State Highway Administration District One Engineer, said the pipes under the crossing needed to be replaced or the road would have collapsed, and added that this was the "least worst time to do the project."
“Unfortunately, in this case, the detours are very long, circuitous route through the marsh areas, and that is many miles out of the way, because there's just not another road network down there,” said Crampton. “But [when] we looked at trying to do this last year we had some comments, because you have, you have school busses, you have to think about, you have businesses down there, you have residents down there, you have emergency services down there, all these things have to be considered when you're looking at what to do with the road to close it, to try to maintain it under traffic.”
The state had initially anticipated the project could take several months. County officials pushed back, saying an extended closure would be unacceptable for residents and emergency services, prompting state engineers to prefabricate portions of the roadway offsite before transporting them to the site — a move that shortened the overall construction timeline.
Dorchester County Council President Lenny Pfeffer said paramedics have been relocated from Madison to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge area on Key Wallace Drive, allowing crews to respond either east toward Maple Dam Road or west toward Golden Hill Road depending on roadway conditions and tidal activity through the marsh.
The county has also coordinated with the Maryland State Police Aviation Division and submitted a formal request to the Maryland State Police Superintendent regarding the potential need for additional medevac transport for residents in the southernmost part of the county during construction.
"While Dorchester County remains committed to the safety and well-being of all residents, we also recognize the importance and necessity of making these improvements to Worlds End Turn to ensure the long-term reliability and usability of this critical transportation route," said Pfeffer.
Still, residents in the area said they are concerned.
"My mom's 91 years old and she's still driving. But, you know, at that age, you don't know if something would happen to her and it would slow the response time down, getting to her. So we're just got our fingers crossed that there are these 3 or 4 weeks that nothing bad happens," said one Toddville resident.
Pfeffer said the county has also placed roll-off dumpsters at the former Crapo School site, giving residents of Crapo, Wingate, Crocheron and Toddville a closer option for household waste disposal since the county's solid waste transfer station is located west of the closure in Golden Hill.
MDOT said the project should take about three weeks. Updates on the project are available on the projects page.
