Crews to Survey Bat Population along Watkins Mill Road and I-270 in Gaithersburg
A contractor for the Maryland State Highway Administration, Skelly and Loy, Inc., will be conducting an environmental survey to assess the bat population in the area near the I-270 Watkins Mill Road Interchange Project this month in Gaithersburg.
The survey will take place from Wednesday August 12 through Friday, August 21 from noon to 3 a.m. each evening. According to SHA officials, affected property owners have been notified of the project by mail.
SHA Spokesperson Charlie Gischlar said the crews are specifically looking for northern long eared bats.
Contractors will be recording the presence of bats and identify the species as required by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The bat survey crew will carry identification and will be using field vehicles marked with a “Skelly and Loy” logo as well as a windshield sign describing their activity.
Sonya,
Can you dig more into this project that seems to come to a complete stop of the much needed Watkins Mill Road Extension that was scheduled to start this summer.
From what we can garner from media reports that this project might be on jeopardy over a “winter home for bats”.
The bidding requests had been canceled over “amendment 5” per the bidding contractors website.
This project releases traffic congestion on Clopper Road from Germantown .
Will check on this today. Thanks for the note.