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[epzik8]

Went through the Fort McHenry southbound today for the first time since they got rid of cash payment (I've been through the Harbor Tunnel multiple times since then) and dodged a bullet when I went through what may have been the pay-by-plate scanners after getting distracted by my passenger who wanted me to get off at Keith Avenue (when I was going to get off at Russell Street, where I was dropping him off) and missed the splits for the E-ZPass booths. Just checked my account and the $3 was nonetheless deducted from it. On my return trip, I went through downtown to avoid paying the toll again northbound.

[tckma]

The Maryland State Roads Commission and its successor agency MDOT SHA have never cared about conflict between state highway numbers and Interstate highway numbers, because they (correctly, IMO) believe that the driving public can tell the difference. What they do/did object to was conflict between US highway designations and state highway designations; today, the only known duplicate numbers in the system today are US 219/MD 219 and US 222/MD 222, and the former is an unsigned segment of a so-far incomplete bypass of downtown Oakland in Garrett County.

Isn't MD-222 just a continuation of US-222, just like PA-222 is a continuation of US-222 at its other end?

No, the divided highway segment of MD 140 was never planned to be part of the Interstate system. The furthest north that a real freeway should/could reach is the intersection of MD 140 and MD 91, and doing that would require a LOT of right-of-way acquisition. Past that point, the existing project on the books to build grade separations at the major intersections between MD 27 and MD 97/Malcolm Road in downtown Westminster would substantially improve the capacity of the highway.

That Malcolm Road project was on the books as far back as 2011; I remember seeing it when I was looking up roads in Westminster shortly after I moved there.  I doubt it will ever get built; Starbucks and Popeye's are both WAY too close to the road to allow for ramp construction, plus I *think* they built a new shopping center where the Ruby Tuesday used to be; they knocked down that building right before I moved out of Maryland.

Also right before I moved, SHA reconstructed the intersection of MD-140/MD-97 with North Center Street as the new mini-mall with the CVS was built replacing Len Stoler Chevrolet.  This involved widening North Center Street and putting in dedicated turn lanes.  Seems wasteful now to grade-separate that after that intersection was so recently expanded.

The layout of Gorsuch Road, both north of 140/97 going up the hill, and south of 140/97 with that rakish angle turn going behind the Domino's plaza, is such that I doubt any grade separation could be made there without creating a second intersection for the southern section of Gorsuch.  I doubt the owners of the shopping plaza or the Hess/Marathon station would like THAT very much.

I think Ralph Street @ 140/97 got new signal heads and mast arms recently.

I think it's safe to say that MD SHA has abandoned any plans for grade-separating interchanges along the MD-140/MD-97 concurrency between Malcolm Road and MD-27.

[famartin]

The Maryland State Roads Commission and its successor agency MDOT SHA have never cared about conflict between state highway numbers and Interstate highway numbers, because they (correctly, IMO) believe that the driving public can tell the difference. What they do/did object to was conflict between US highway designations and state highway designations; today, the only known duplicate numbers in the system today are US 219/MD 219 and US 222/MD 222, and the former is an unsigned segment of a so-far incomplete bypass of downtown Oakland in Garrett County.

Isn't MD-222 just a continuation of US-222, just like PA-222 is a continuation of US-222 at its other end?

It’s an old segment of US 222, which was truncated from US 40 to US 1. It’s not continuous since MD 222 ends at its junction with US 1, not at US 222.

[The Ghostbuster]

US 222 was truncated in 1995, since according to https://www.usends.com/222.html, "the road through Port Deposit (between Conowingo and Perryville) is narrow and not very conducive to truck traffic." Personally, I would have left MD 222 as US 222. Interestingly enough, MD 222's southern terminus is not at US 1, but at MD 7 at the corner of Aiken Avenue and Philadelphia Road. The only conclusion would be that MD 7 was once part of US 40 (which is accurate).

[MASTERNC]

Work is starting to replace bridges east of Exit 35 on I-70.  A temporary bridge is being constructed, and a speed camera has been installed eastbound (the first direction to be replaced).

[jmacswimmer]

Horrific work-zone crash on I-695 just north of I-70 yesterday afternoon:

(The work-zone in question is a project involving the median barrier of I-695 in the area, with temporary barriers set up directly against the left lane in both directions.)

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/beltway-crash-6-dead-woodlawn-maryland/43389717

Six people were killed Wednesday afternoon in a crash on the westside of the Baltimore Beltway in Woodlawn.

According to Maryland State Police, troopers were called around 12:40 p.m. for reports of a pedestrian struck at a work zone on the Inner Loop of the Beltway near Security Boulevard.

A preliminary investigation indicates the car entered the work zone in between jersey walls, struck construction workers and overturned.

"The preliminary investigation, at this point, indicates that, for reasons unknown, an Acura traveled in between the jersey walls and struck the contract workers that were on that scene. All six contract workers were declared deceased at the scene by EMS personnel," Maryland State Police spokeswoman Elena Russo told 11 News.

Editting to add in the most recent news release from Maryland State Police: https://news.maryland.gov/msp/2023/03/22/state-police-identify-drivers-of-two-vehicles-involved-in-i-695-crash/

[MASTERNC]

Horrific work-zone crash on I-695 just north of I-70 yesterday afternoon:

(The work-zone in question is a project involving the median barrier of I-695 in the area, with temporary barriers set up directly against the left lane in both directions.)

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/beltway-crash-6-dead-woodlawn-maryland/43389717

Six people were killed Wednesday afternoon in a crash on the westside of the Baltimore Beltway in Woodlawn.

According to Maryland State Police, troopers were called around 12:40 p.m. for reports of a pedestrian struck at a work zone on the Inner Loop of the Beltway near Security Boulevard.

A preliminary investigation indicates the car entered the work zone in between jersey walls, struck construction workers and overturned.

"The preliminary investigation, at this point, indicates that, for reasons unknown, an Acura traveled in between the jersey walls and struck the contract workers that were on that scene. All six contract workers were declared deceased at the scene by EMS personnel," Maryland State Police spokeswoman Elena Russo told 11 News.

Editting to add in the most recent news release from Maryland State Police: https://news.maryland.gov/msp/2023/03/22/state-police-identify-drivers-of-two-vehicles-involved-in-i-695-crash/

Sounds like one vehicle hit another when changing lanes, causing the other one to lose control and veer into the work area.

Not sure if speed is a factor, but maybe we see MSP and SHA implement more speed cameras for temporary work zones.  I think all but one camera setup has been for permanent long-term work zones rather than temporary daily work zones.

[davewiecking]

Horrific work-zone crash on I-695 just north of I-70 yesterday afternoon:

(The work-zone in question is a project involving the median barrier of I-695 in the area, with temporary barriers set up directly against the left lane in both directions.)

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/beltway-crash-6-dead-woodlawn-maryland/43389717

Six people were killed Wednesday afternoon in a crash on the westside of the Baltimore Beltway in Woodlawn.

According to Maryland State Police, troopers were called around 12:40 p.m. for reports of a pedestrian struck at a work zone on the Inner Loop of the Beltway near Security Boulevard.

A preliminary investigation indicates the car entered the work zone in between jersey walls, struck construction workers and overturned.

"The preliminary investigation, at this point, indicates that, for reasons unknown, an Acura traveled in between the jersey walls and struck the contract workers that were on that scene. All six contract workers were declared deceased at the scene by EMS personnel," Maryland State Police spokeswoman Elena Russo told 11 News.

Editting to add in the most recent news release from Maryland State Police: https://news.maryland.gov/msp/2023/03/22/state-police-identify-drivers-of-two-vehicles-involved-in-i-695-crash/

Sounds like one vehicle hit another when changing lanes, causing the other one to lose control and veer into the work area.

Not sure if speed is a factor, but maybe we see MSP and SHA implement more speed cameras for temporary work zones.  I think all but one camera setup has been for permanent long-term work zones rather than temporary daily work zones.

WaPo write up; gifted article. https://wapo.st/3FLTaJ5

[jmacswimmer]

WaPo write up; gifted article. https://wapo.st/3FLTaJ5

I saw the WaPo article interviewed KCI's CEO, and I did hear thru the grapevine that one of the deceased is a KCI employee - my understanding is KCI is providing inspection services on this project, with Concrete General as the contractor.

Editing to add in the latest release from Maryland State Police ID’ing the victims: https://news.maryland.gov/msp/2023/03/23/state-police-release-identities-of-victims-involved-in-i-695-fatal-crash/

Not sure if speed is a factor, but maybe we see MSP and SHA implement more speed cameras for temporary work zones.  I think all but one camera setup has been for permanent long-term work zones rather than temporary daily work zones.

I wouldn't be surprised if this area is quickly added to the SafeZones program, as the concrete barriers against the left lane have been in place since mid-November IIRC (should have been clearer in my initial post). There are short gaps in the barrier to allow for construction access, so the 2 possibilities are that the car slipped thru one of these gaps or flipped directly over the barrier after the initial collision with the 2nd car.

This has also been a focus point for MDOT SHA's Office of Traffic & Safety (OOTS) even before this incident occurred - at an industry conference a month ago, I sat in on a presentation given by the OOTS director as well as Allan Myers on work zone safety. The presentation wasn't recorded, but the slides they used are publicly available here for anyone interested. (Here are direct links to part 1 & part 2 of the presentation slides).

[jmacswimmer]

Meanwhile on a lighter note, the northbound toll gantry at the Fort McHenry Tunnel is set to be activated early next week (the southbound gantry was activated back in January):

[MASTERNC]

Not sure if speed is a factor, but maybe we see MSP and SHA implement more speed cameras for temporary work zones.  I think all but one camera setup has been for permanent long-term work zones rather than temporary daily work zones.

I wouldn't be surprised if this area is quickly added to the SafeZones program, as the concrete barriers against the left lane have been in place since mid-November IIRC (should have been clearer in my initial post). There are short gaps in the barrier to allow for construction access, so the 2 possibilities are that the car slipped thru one of these gaps or flipped directly over the barrier after the initial collision with the 2nd car.

This has also been a focus point for MDOT SHA's Office of Traffic & Safety (OOTS) even before this incident occurred - at an industry conference a month ago, I sat in on a presentation given by the OOTS director as well as Allan Myers on work zone safety. The presentation wasn't recorded, but the slides they used are publicly available here for anyone interested. (Here are direct links to part 1 & part 2 of the presentation slides).

Maryland has one of the longest running work zone camera programs.  Since then, a lot more have come online.  Perhaps it is time to look at "best practices".  Pennsylvania seems to have a good mix of enforcement in short-term and long-term work zones (though they can only legally enforce when workers are present) and has escalating fines for repeat offenders after an initial warning.  Delaware's pilot program based the fine on the actual speed (and ran 24/7 with fixed cameras) but also had a first-time warning.

[jmacswimmer]

For anyone who wants to view (I will warn it’s nasty), footage of the crash from an adjacent traffic camera has made its way onto the internet. It clearly shows the overturned car attempting to pass between 2 side-by-side cars in the left 2 lanes, and getting pushed right thru a gap in the construction barrier into the work zone.

https://foxbaltimore.com/amp/news/local/video-shows-collision-moments-before-6-people-killed-baltimore-beltway-crash

Anecdotally I drove thru there southbound a few hours ago on the way down to DC for a Caps game tonight, and there was no active work today (as I figured would be the case).

[Alex4897]

For anyone who wants to view (I will warn it’s nasty), footage of the crash from an adjacent traffic camera has made its way onto the internet. It clearly shows the overturned car attempting to pass between 2 side-by-side cars in the left 2 lanes, and getting pushed right thru a gap in the construction barrier into the work zone.

https://foxbaltimore.com/amp/news/local/video-shows-collision-moments-before-6-people-killed-baltimore-beltway-crash

Anecdotally I drove thru there southbound a few hours ago on the way down to DC for a Caps game tonight, and there was no active work today (as I figured would be the case).

I sense some jail time in both of those drivers' futures, they were FLYING through that construction zone.