POCOMOKE CITY, Md. - A busy Pocomoke intersection that police call one of the area’s most dangerous is set to get a permanent traffic light in 2026.
The State Highway Administration plans to install a signal at Stockton Road and Route 13 in spring 2026. The light will be timed with the existing signal where Route 113 meets Route 13 nearby.
For years, drivers have complained that turning or crossing at Stockton Road feels like a gamble. Traffic on Route 13 moves quickly, while drivers coming from Stockton Road must watch for a break and then dart across multiple lanes.
One of those drivers is Hollie McCall, who was involved in a serious crash there with her young daughter in January 2023.
“I didn’t have any connection to that intersection other than driving over it every day for years until I was taking my daughter to karate class one night, and I did not make it all the way over the intersection,” McCall said.
McCall says everything happened fast, and the impact left her scrambling to get her daughter to safety.
“We were taken by ambulance to TidalHealth. She was removed from her car seat. Car seat saved her life. So always use a car seat,” she said.
Both were treated and later released.
Two weeks before that crash, McCall had been talking with her parents about the intersection.
“I had just told my parents at dinner or lunch that I don’t understand how people have so many accidents there, because I feel like you can see. And then two weeks later, it was me,” she said.
Pocomoke City Police Chief Arthur Hancock says the numbers back up those concerns.
“Probably 75 percent of our motor vehicle accidents over the past ten to fourteen years have been at that intersection,” Hancock said. “Most of them are T-bone crashes crossing from one side of Stockton to the other, and we’ve had some pretty nasty collisions there. So I fully support this. I think it’s a great idea.”
Local advocate Caryn Abbott says she has spent three years pushing for the light and credits MDOT district engineer Mark Crampton and state highway leaders for moving it forward.
The change is expected to arrive as a new Wawa project advances on that corner, which officials say will bring more traffic in and out of the intersection. Until the signal goes up, police are urging drivers to slow down and use extra caution every time they travel through Stockton Road and Route 13.
