Main Street in Middletown is currently under reconstruction for the first time since the 1890’s due to the State Highway Administration’s (SHA) “Streetscape” program which will provide Middletown with updated sidewalks, storm drains, and road surface.

The town will also be replacing a 100-year-old waterline that runs through Main Street, as well as getting new lamps, light poles, banner poles and possibly new stop lights at the town square. Negotiations with Verizon, Comcast, and Potomac Edison are also underway, hopefully leading to cross lines being buried in the ground to reduce overhead traffic and increase overall safety.

Jerry Donald, a City Council member and social studies teacher at Middletown High School said that the reconstruction will make traveling from “point A to point B” much easier. Although, Donald is concerned about how the project will affect businesses as the construction could be inconvenient.

The 12 million dollar reconstruction is being funded by the Maryland taxpayers and more specifically, the Maryland Department of Transportation. The new waterline, though, is being paid for by the town, costing over four million dollars.

All of the construction work on Main Street will take approximately two years to complete. The project will begin at Safeway and work down Main Street in sections, all the way to Brookridge. The street will be divided into single lane traffic for each section, so people can still travel on Main Street.

Middletown’s Burgess John Miller is excited for the reconstruction to be completed in November 2018. It was a ten year design process with SHA which was then postponed because of the economic downturn that occurred in 2008.