Talbot's Top Road Request to the State: Fix the MD 322–US 50 North Intersection

EASTON, MARYLAND — When state transportation officials meet the Talbot County Council at 3 p.m. Tuesday, the county's written wish list puts one intersection first: the north junction of MD Route 322 and US Route 50.

The council's revised 2026 priority listing, sent to the Maryland Department of Transportation in a letter dated April 29, ranks that intersection No. 1. The county writes that it has seen a significant number of injury and property-damage crashes there, including what it calls an unacceptable number of fatalities, and asks that the intersection be evaluated and improved as soon as possible. It describes cross-traffic between two high-volume, high-speed roads and cars merging into the fast lane of eastbound US 50.

Second on the list is MD Route 33. The county calls it the sole evacuation route for the St. Michaels peninsula, notes flooding during Tropical Storm Isabel and Hurricane Irene, and asks for work to raise flood-prone sections and add capacity. Third is MD Route 329, Royal Oak Road, which the list describes as narrow, with no shoulders and a ditch drop-off at the pavement edge, and as the alternate route if MD 33 is cut off.

Fourth is the MD Route 333 causeway in Oxford near South Morris Street, which the county says floods during storms and many high tides. The list asks the state to work with the town to raise that stretch, the only access to the historic part of Oxford.

Next come three US 50 cross-street intersections in Easton — Goldsborough Street, Dover Street and Chapel Road — followed by the US 50, MD 309 and MD 662 intersection, where the county cites traffic from the growing Easton Airport, the Talbot County Community Center and the new regional medical center on Longwoods Road. Lower on the list are the Airport Road and MD 662 intersection, the Idlewild Avenue merge onto US 50, a transfer of a short piece of Cordova Road to the State Highway Administration, and turn lanes at Dutchmans Lane, where the letter notes the State Highway Administration has recently awarded a contract intended to address the problem.

The county also asks the state to add three county roads to its federal funding plan so Talbot can seek federal aid: Black Dog Alley, put at $10 million to $14 million in improvements; Airport Road, which the county says needs work for added traffic and emergency access to the new regional medical center; and Goldsborough Neck Road, estimated at about $4 million. Town lists from Easton, Oxford and St. Michaels are attached; the county says Trappe has no projects at this time.

The council endorsed the revised list at its April 28 meeting, according to the letter. Tuesday's annual Consolidated Transportation Plan meeting is open to the public in the Wye Oak Room at the Talbot County Community Center, 10028 Ocean Gateway, Easton.