Winter Operations

The Town’s winter season is considered to extend from November 15th to April 15th. 

When responding to a winter event, Main Street and Rock Hall Avenue/Rte. 20 are first priority.  Next are primary town-maintained roads, followed by secondary and dead-end roadways.  If a full staff compliment is available, all areas may receive concurrent attention; however, after hours or during protracted winter events, the tiered response will become more evident. 

The Town of Rock Hall does not operate on a 24/7 schedule; however, after regular daytime hours staff is available to monitor the local weather conditions and patrol the roads when necessary to determine what, if any, activities should commence.

The primary goal of winter operations is “to provide traction improvement for pedestrians and motorists for their safe passage and/or ensure that roadways are passable for emergency response vehicles.”  Residents must keep in mind that winter road maintenance does not necessarily mean that all streets will be kept clear of snow and ice to bare pavement conditions. Winter response is accomplished as per the Snow Emergency Plan guidelines. 

To facilitate winter response, the Town of Rock Hall is divided into two areas and further into a network of primary and secondary roads.  Of the two response areas, one area is further designated as initial response areas and these areas generally encompass the Town’s primary roads such as Main Street (445) and Maryland Route 20 (Rock Hall Ave) which are maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration. The other area consists of primary and secondary town-maintained roads. All other roads outside of the Town limits are maintained by Kent County or the Maryland State Highway Administration.