Officials expect no additional long-term road closures associated with this weekend’s G-8 summit, Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said.
Current plans will close Md. 77 between Pryor Road and Tower Road from 9 a.m. Friday until 9 p.m. Saturday. Catoctin Hollow Road will be closed at the entrance to Cunningham Falls State Park, which will also be closed.
Residents with proper identification will be permitted to access their homes in the affected areas, Maryland State Police said.
But Jenkins said as of Wednesday no further closures are anticipated.
“Right now with our plans those are the only road closures we’ve planned,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said U.S. 15 will be open, but parts could be blocked off temporarily if motorcades associated with the summit need to pass through on their way to Camp David.
“It would just be for enough time to allow the motorcade to come through,” he said.
But Jenkins said he couldn’t comment on whether attendees would be taken to Camp David via motorcade or by air.
“That’s all situationally dependent on the Secret Service,” said Seamus Mooney, the county’s director of emergency preparedness.
Mooney said residents and visitors should expect traffic to move more slowly than normal in the northern part of the county, and that protesters could have an additional effect on traffic.
“It depends on how many of them are coming,” Mooney said.
The restricted airspace around Camp David has been extended by an additional 30 miles, overlapping Washington’s restricted airspace, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The traditional 10-mile airspace surrounding the presidential retreat is off-limits to all but military aircraft supporting the Secret Service and the office of the president, but aircraft will be permitted in the 30-mile outer ring under limited circumstances.
“All aircraft operating within the outer ring(s) listed above are limited to aircraft arriving or departing local airfields, and workload permitting, ATC may authorize transit operations,” an FAA news release states.
Benet Wilson, spokeswoman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said her organization has been sending out information to members reminding them of the restrictions. Wilson also said the area celebration of National Learn to Fly Day, which is Saturday, has been postponed until June 2.
“We will not be having ours along with the rest of the country,” Wilson said.
Also on Tuesday, Jenkins and representatives of Maryland Midland Railway confirmed that a freight train line that runs along Md. 550 will operate as normal. The train, which carries cement and lumber products, makes a run from Union Bridge at about 9:30 a.m. Friday and returns between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Jenkins said. The train does not run on weekends.
