Maryland

[epzik8]

I was in Oakland yesterday and noticed that MD 219, the stub built for a potential Oakland bypass, is now signed at its intersection with US 219 and MD 135, but only from the US 219 northbound direction. I didn't have time to check to see if it was signed on its north end, but from Google Maps Street View, it does not appear to be.

It appears the MD 219 signs went up at the same time as signs banning trucks over 40 feet. I really don't understand the rationale for actually signing this route because it doesn't connect to anything and just serves to confuse drivers.

Very weird.

[TheOneKEA]

I was in Oakland yesterday and noticed that MD 219, the stub built for a potential Oakland bypass, is now signed at its intersection with US 219 and MD 135, but only from the US 219 northbound direction. I didn't have time to check to see if it was signed on its north end, but from Google Maps Street View, it does not appear to be.

It appears the MD 219 signs went up at the same time as signs banning trucks over 40 feet. I really don't understand the rationale for actually signing this route because it doesn't connect to anything and just serves to confuse drivers.

Very weird.

I have posted in the past about the absence of the Oakland Bypass and my belief that its continued absence is a serious chokepoint on a significant north-south route in Garrett County. I doubt this new sign is any indication of the revival of the Bypass and is merely a bookkeeping measure.

[Bitmapped]

I was in Oakland yesterday and noticed that MD 219, the stub built for a potential Oakland bypass, is now signed at its intersection with US 219 and MD 135, but only from the US 219 northbound direction. I didn't have time to check to see if it was signed on its north end, but from Google Maps Street View, it does not appear to be.

It appears the MD 219 signs went up at the same time as signs banning trucks over 40 feet. I really don't understand the rationale for actually signing this route because it doesn't connect to anything and just serves to confuse drivers.

Very weird.

I have posted in the past about the absence of the Oakland Bypass and my belief that its continued absence is a serious chokepoint on a significant north-south route in Garrett County. I doubt this new sign is any indication of the revival of the Bypass and is merely a bookkeeping measure.

The route has been on the books as MD 219 all along, it's just not been signed before.

While I would like to see the Oakland bypass completed, I don't think it's that big of an issue as there's not a lot of through traffic on the US 219 corridor. Most of the traffic in Oakland is going to/from Oakland.

I'd rather see the money that would go to an Oakland bypass be used for access management and widening of US 219 around Deep Creek Lake, where traffic is north of 10,000 VPD. Upgrading MD 42 between Friendsville and US 219 would also be a higher priority for me. Even upgrading Sand Flat Road, which functions as sort of an outer bypass for Oakland, would probably be more useful.

[roadman65]

I was noticing that BWI Airport has a special shield for all routes encircling it.  It has the Airport Loop above the parts of MD 170, 175, and 162 shields where along the airport property.

[ixnay]

Welcome back, Alps and company.

[roadman65]

Was the Baltimore Travel Plaza at I-95 and Boston Street originally inside the current Best Western Plus Hotel?

The current TA Hotel looks smaller than I remembered it with the Best Western looking like the plaza I visited years ago.

I'm assuming they relocated to across the street and removed the original gas and convenience store to make the Best Western parking lot bigger.

[1995hoo]

The bridge collapse last week had me looking at various maps and satellite imagery around Baltimore and I found myself wondering about two things:

(1) Was there ever a plan to link the two pieces of I-83 without running a concurrency along I-695? Looking at a map, it appears almost as though the northern stub end of the "city portion" (sometimes called the Jones Falls Expressway or JFX) was intended to continue further north, and it's not hard to visualize such a road curving slightly to the east just north of the Five Farms Golf Course to meet up with what is now I-83 near Cockeysville at the Warren Road interchange.

(2) Is there another major city with quite as many ramp stubs or ghost ramps as the Baltimore area has? They're not all old, either. While many of us are familiar with all the stubs on I-95 for I-70, the stub end of I-70 itself, the stubs on I-95 for I-83, and the stubs on I-95 at the Moravia Road interchange for the unbuilt portion of the Windlass Freeway, there are various others there, including provisions in the median of I-695 related to that same portion of the Windlass and some nearby provisions for where the Windlass would have continued northeast to Chase, the wide section of median on I-695 south of there where the Patapsco Freeway part of the Baltimore Beltway had been planned to cross Back River to meet up with what is now the I-695 routing, and a number of much more recently constructed stubs at the northeastern I-695/I-95 interchange where flyover ramps connecting to the I-95 express toll lanes were planned but deferred.

[ixnay]

Through another mb's thread on the Key Bridge tragedy, I found this link re MD 4's Thomas Johnson Bridge...

https://www.smcm.edu/slackwater/about-us/TJbridge/Bridge.html#:~:text=Eleven%20years%20later%2C%20in%201988,north%20to%20the%20Benedict%20Bridge.

How was the TJB allowed to be built so flimsily?

[Rothman]

Through another mb's thread on the Key Bridge tragedy, I found this link re MD 4's Thomas Johnson Bridge...

https://www.smcm.edu/slackwater/about-us/TJbridge/Bridge.html#:~:text=Eleven%20years%20later%2C%20in%201988,north%20to%20the%20Benedict%20Bridge.

How was the TJB allowed to be built so flimsily?

What?  Sounds like it was just rehabbed when problems were found.  No biggie.

[froggie]

(1) Was there ever a plan to link the two pieces of I-83 without running a concurrency along I-695? Looking at a map, it appears almost as though the northern stub end of the "city portion" (sometimes called the Jones Falls Expressway or JFX) was intended to continue further north, and it's not hard to visualize such a road curving slightly to the east just north of the Five Farms Golf Course to meet up with what is now I-83 near Cockeysville at the Warren Road interchange.

Something along those lines was proposed as early as 1963, and looked at again in the 1970s.  According to the sites I checked, "intense local opposition" is what stopped it.  Instead, SHA widened I-83 from the Beltway to Exit 20 and added ramps at Exits 16 and 18.

[roadman65]

The bridge collapse last week had me looking at various maps and satellite imagery around Baltimore and I found myself wondering about two things:

(1) Was there ever a plan to link the two pieces of I-83 without running a concurrency along I-695? Looking at a map, it appears almost as though the northern stub end of the "city portion" (sometimes called the Jones Falls Expressway or JFX) was intended to continue further north, and it's not hard to visualize such a road curving slightly to the east just north of the Five Farms Golf Course to meet up with what is now I-83 near Cockeysville at the Warren Road interchange.

(2) Is there another major city with quite as many ramp stubs or ghost ramps as the Baltimore area has? They're not all old, either. While many of us are familiar with all the stubs on I-95 for I-70, the stub end of I-70 itself, the stubs on I-95 for I-83, and the stubs on I-95 at the Moravia Road interchange for the unbuilt portion of the Windlass Freeway, there are various others there, including provisions in the median of I-695 related to that same portion of the Windlass and some nearby provisions for where the Windlass would have continued northeast to Chase, the wide section of median on I-695 south of there where the Patapsco Freeway part of the Baltimore Beltway had been planned to cross Back River to meet up with what is now the I-695 routing, and a number of much more recently constructed stubs at the northeastern I-695/I-95 interchange where flyover ramps connecting to the I-95 express toll lanes were planned but deferred.

The first paragraph about the Jones Falls Extension is similar to I-49 at Joplin, MO.  The freeway continues as MO 249 and shifts east to meet I-49 west of Carthage only to terminate at an at grade diamond set up.

[epzik8]

"intense local opposition"

Also collectively known nowadays as the freeway revolts.

[bluecountry]

Looking at google maps, it appears there is a very easy ROW to accomodate the ICC being extended to at least the BW Parkway.  Has that ever been discussed and why has that not been done, it would seem to be an obvious addition.

[MASTERNC]

Looking at google maps, it appears there is a very easy ROW to accomodate the ICC being extended to at least the BW Parkway.  Has that ever been discussed and why has that not been done, it would seem to be an obvious addition.

My guess is because that segment of the Parkway belongs to the NPS?

[The Ghostbuster]

I doubt the MD 200 Intercounty Connector will ever be extended any further east. It was difficult enough trying to get the existing ICC constructed. Even if an extension to the BWP paralleled the power line corridor, there would still be homes and businesses that would need to be demolished, which would likely make such an extension a no-go.

[ixnay]

Through another mb's thread on the Key Bridge tragedy, I found this link re MD 4's Thomas Johnson Bridge...

https://www.smcm.edu/slackwater/about-us/TJbridge/Bridge.html#:~:text=Eleven%20years%20later%2C%20in%201988,north%20to%20the%20Benedict%20Bridge.

How was the TJB allowed to be built so flimsily?

What?  Sounds like it was just rehabbed when problems were found.  No biggie.

That doesn't answer my question.

[Rothman]

Through another mb's thread on the Key Bridge tragedy, I found this link re MD 4's Thomas Johnson Bridge...

https://www.smcm.edu/slackwater/about-us/TJbridge/Bridge.html#:~:text=Eleven%20years%20later%2C%20in%201988,north%20to%20the%20Benedict%20Bridge.

How was the TJB allowed to be built so flimsily?

What?  Sounds like it was just rehabbed when problems were found.  No biggie.

That doesn't answer my question.

Your question was built upon a false premise.

[bluecountry]

I doubt the MD 200 Intercounty Connector will ever be extended any further east. It was difficult enough trying to get the existing ICC constructed. Even if an extension to the BWP paralleled the power line corridor, there would still be homes and businesses that would need to be demolished, which would likely make such an extension a no-go.

But it looks so easy, the ROW is there, a straight line, and really what good is the ICC without connecting to that corridor?

[The Ghostbuster]

Even in highway projects, looks can be deceiving. It looked easy to build Interstate 70 through Leakin Park. Just because building a road looks easy doesn't mean it is. There are many other factors that can make a project difficult and ultimately unfeasible, not to mention what the locals would have to say about it.

[roadwaywiz95]

Please join me for a special edition Webinar presentation on Friday 4/5 at 6 PM ET. It will feature a comprehensive examination of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster of March 26, 2024. Included will be a discussion of the history of the bridge, the circumstances surrounding its collapse, and the immediate recovery and salvage efforts already underway. We'll also be looking ahead at what to expect from a potential future replacement crossing over the next few years.

Link to Key Bridge Webinar:

[Alex]

(1) Was there ever a plan to link the two pieces of I-83 without running a concurrency along I-695? Looking at a map, it appears almost as though the northern stub end of the "city portion" (sometimes called the Jones Falls Expressway or JFX) was intended to continue further north, and it's not hard to visualize such a road curving slightly to the east just north of the Five Farms Golf Course to meet up with what is now I-83 near Cockeysville at the Warren Road interchange.

Steve Anderson has some of the background on that unbuilt connection toward the bottom of the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83) page.

(2) Is there another major city with quite as many ramp stubs or ghost ramps as the Baltimore area has?

I would guess Hartford and the surrounding area in Connecticut.

[MASTERNC]

Thought the current law didn't permit this (and they were looking to change it) but I saw for the first time a second speed camera zone within a work zone that was set up in the last few weeks. On I-95 south near Bel Air, there is the camera near MD 152 but now there is a separate camera setup 4 miles down in the same work zone. They use a full set of signage and a speed display for that one as well.

It's also the same thing going northbound: a camera zone near White Marsh and another (new in the past three weeks) near MD 152.

[sprjus4]

I doubt the MD 200 Intercounty Connector will ever be extended any further east. It was difficult enough trying to get the existing ICC constructed. Even if an extension to the BWP paralleled the power line corridor, there would still be homes and businesses that would need to be demolished, which would likely make such an extension a no-go.

But it looks so easy, the ROW is there, a straight line, and really what good is the ICC without connecting to that corridor?

What straight line... the power lines?

[WillWeaverRVA]

I doubt the MD 200 Intercounty Connector will ever be extended any further east. It was difficult enough trying to get the existing ICC constructed. Even if an extension to the BWP paralleled the power line corridor, there would still be homes and businesses that would need to be demolished, which would likely make such an extension a no-go.

But it looks so easy, the ROW is there, a straight line, and really what good is the ICC without connecting to that corridor?

There's no ROW there except for the power lines. There is absolutely no way you can put a freeway there.

[epzik8]

Thought the current law didn't permit this (and they were looking to change it) but I saw for the first time a second speed camera zone within a work zone that was set up in the last few weeks. On I-95 south near Bel Air, there is the camera near MD 152 but now there is a separate camera setup 4 miles down in the same work zone. They use a full set of signage and a speed display for that one as well.

It's also the same thing going northbound: a camera zone near White Marsh and another (new in the past three weeks) near MD 152.

Thanks for the heads-up. The cameras are the main reason why driving through those areas are sometimes unnerving for me right now.