Maryland

[Henry]

I just read some comments on a post elsewhere of I-68 and many contributors seem to agree that I-68 is not a good place to be in a snowstorm.

I always figured all roads aren't that good to be in a storm, but many say this particular freeway is worse than many.   I also heard fog is common along the stretch as well.

Is this route more dangerous in winter storms and fog than most?

I mean, if only because of the terrain.

Not all roads are equal, even from their inception...

Well, any highway that goes through the mountains would be dangerous in fog and winter storms, and sometimes there's no way around it.

[MASTERNC]

I just read some comments on a post elsewhere of I-68 and many contributors seem to agree that I-68 is not a good place to be in a snowstorm.

I always figured all roads aren't that good to be in a storm, but many say this particular freeway is worse than many.   I also heard fog is common along the stretch as well.

Is this route more dangerous in winter storms and fog than most?

The PA Turnpike can also have issues.  There are notorious fog spots east of Breezewood, and the mountains west of Somerset are susceptible to the same big snowstorms as I-68.  I don't think either agency does a bad job of clearing the roads (though the PTC may be more meticulous) but the grades on I-68 are much steeper than the Turnpike.  Sometimes one is less affected than the other by a particular storm, so that's how I would decide my route sometimes.

Speaking of I-68, sounds like trucks will be limited to the right lane soon heading down the mountain east into Cumberland.

https://www.roads.maryland.gov/mdotsha/pages/pressreleasedetails.aspx?newsId=5254&PageId=818

[roadman65]

Well I figured that all mountains are dangerous, but these commenters seem like they're road enthusiastic like us.  Plus I've never driven this highway through Sideling Hill or Allegheny Mountain in the winter.  In fact I've never driven outside New Jersey in a blizzard or snowstorm so I don't know enough of winter weather in rural mountains to know.

I did hear that I-68 is very scenic and in non severe weather it's a good drive and from some of us here it's a great PA Turnpike bypass to use for through I-70 traffic.

[Bitmapped]

I just read some comments on a post elsewhere of I-68 and many contributors seem to agree that I-68 is not a good place to be in a snowstorm.

I always figured all roads aren't that good to be in a storm, but many say this particular freeway is worse than many.   I also heard fog is common along the stretch as well.

Is this route more dangerous in winter storms and fog than most?

Short answer - yes, especially with respect to fog. I-68 in Garrett County, particularly from Keyers Ridge (Exit 14) to Finzel (Exit 29), is prone to heavy fog with very limited sight distance pretty much any time of the year including in the summer. While other areas certainly get fog, the length of affected area and year-round nature of it is uncommon.

As far as snow goes, about 50 miles the route, from just east of Morgantown to just west of Frostburg, is above 2000 feet in elevation and prone to large snowfall events in the winter. Much of this stretch is a plateau, so it can be windy with snow blowing across. Some of the other roads across the Allegheny Plateau have similar issues, although I-68 is more exposed than most. MDSHA generally does a decent job with plowing, but WVDOH can often be lacking.

I live in Morgantown and drive I-68 east into Maryland many times each year. I try my best to avoid crossing during snowstorms.

[epzik8]

The PA Turnpike can also have issues.  There are notorious fog spots east of Breezewood, and the mountains west of Somerset are susceptible to the same big snowstorms as I-68. 

And curves...lots and lots of curves.

[roadman65]

From the Petticoat Junction Theme.

Lots of curves you bet. Even more when you get to the junction. 

[epzik8]

The street signs on this new traffic light are tilted and I don't like it.

[ixnay]

Have they added the Hon. Mr. Justice Marshall's name to this sign since the GSV-mobile last went through here?

https://tinyurl.com/33f2e6em

[ixnay]

The street signs on this new traffic light are tilted and I don't like it.

Just as bad is this at MD 213 and MD 289...

https://tinyurl.com/3bx87842

The blades should be perpendicular to MD 213, not parallel to the traffic light booms.

And the hospital trailblazer should be jimmied to squarely face traffic emerging from MD 289 (Cross Street).

[roadman65]

I'm disappointed that the Hickory bypass wasn't built to freeway standards. Considering the US 1 Business intersection was originally left with an artificial hill and a stub, that they didn't utilize it to build a bridge over US 1 Business. No they bulldozed it to create an at grade instead and turned the combined MD 23 and US 1 Business ramp into a local access road.

Originally US 1 with US 1 Business and MD 23 were to be one interchange and the super two Bel Air bypass was to be full freeway. That stoplight at MD 24 wasn't even to be either.

I'm kind of bummed that MDSHA dropped the original concept.

[epzik8]

I'm disappointed that the Hickory bypass wasn't built to freeway standards. Considering the US 1 Business intersection was originally left with an artificial hill and a stub, that they didn't utilize it to build a bridge over US 1 Business. No they bulldozed it to create an at grade instead and turned the combined MD 23 and US 1 Business ramp into a local access road.

Originally US 1 with US 1 Business and MD 23 were to be one interchange and the super two Bel Air bypass was to be full freeway. That stoplight at MD 24 wasn't even to be either.

I'm kind of bummed that MDSHA dropped the original concept.

Yep, I posted a Bel Air-area highway master plan from 1957 some years back that had what was essentially a full freeway network in the area. Guess it was more ambitious than they originally thought and/or they were forced to cut some costs, be more environmentally mindful, etc.

[roadman65]

MD 43 was supposed to be a full freeway. In fact from I-95 to US 40 was, but that became arterial.

However at least it got completed south of US 40 despite it being a sprawl road with access along its ROW for business.

It would have been great to see MD 46 get built west of I-95 or the Windlass Freeway be built, but those will never come to light. 

I'm thinking the Windlass Extension may get built east of I-695 & MD 702 if it's private and someone buys the land there to develop. I'm sure the hierarchy of Baltimore County would approve it if the owner is sure he can sell the parcels to companies offering jobs.

[TheOneKEA]

It would have been great to see MD 46 get built west of I-95 or the Windlass Freeway be built, but those will never come to light.

Is that really a thing? The layout of the northern end of the freeway where MD 166 transitions to Rolling Road certainly looks like it could have been extended further, but if I have ever seen a map showing such a route, I've forgotten what I saw.

I'm thinking the Windlass Extension may get built east of I-695 & MD 702 if it's private and someone buys the land there to develop. I'm sure the hierarchy of Baltimore County would approve it if the owner is sure he can sell the parcels to companies offering jobs.

It's not even clear, looking at a map, where the segment of the Windlass Freeway between I-95 and I-695 would have gone. The subdivision northeast of the Back River, adjacent to the 45mph curve, looks old enough to have been built contemporaneously with the late-50s/early-60s 3-A plan; is it plausible that the SRC would have "done a Moses" and just rammed the route through the subdivision like they did with the Harbor Tunnel Thruway in northeast Baltimore?

As for the other end, there's more than enough industrial properties that could be purchased and redeveloped as a suitable route for an extension of the Windlass Freeway up to MD 700, with a "proper" terminus built to provide straightforward access to Pulaski Highway at the existing interchange with MD 700. But any further than that would require a lot of residences to be bought and demolished and I believe that there's no appetite for that anywhere in suburban MD right now.

[epzik8]

The extended express lanes are so close to completion, I can taste them.

[MASTERNC]

MDTA website says the I-95 ETL extension to MD 152 is opening soon but there is no specific date.

UPDATE: The toll rates table has been updated and it notes the anticipated opening date is December 16.

[MASTERNC]

MDTA website says the I-95 ETL extension to MD 152 is opening soon but there is no specific date.

UPDATE: The toll rates table has been updated and it notes the anticipated opening date is December 16.

DMS on I-95 now say 12/18 for opening

[jmacswimmer]

MDTA website says the I-95 ETL extension to MD 152 is opening soon but there is no specific date.

UPDATE: The toll rates table has been updated and it notes the anticipated opening date is December 16.

DMS on I-95 now say 12/18 for opening

Press release from MDTA this morning confirming the 12/18 opening date, along with noting that the remaining extension thru the MD 24 interchange as well as the ramps from I-695 onto the northbound ETL's are expected to open by the end of 2027.

https://mdta.maryland.gov/blog-category/mdta-news-releases/maryland-transportation-authority-announces-opening-northbound-i

Overall excited about the extension opening, but my one lingering concern is the impact this might have on the existing bottleneck at exit 77/MD 24. It already congests at peak times with the drop from 4 lanes to 3, but with the ETL extension opening it'll become a drop from 6 lanes to 3 within a couple miles.

[TheOneKEA]

MDTA website says the I-95 ETL extension to MD 152 is opening soon but there is no specific date.

UPDATE: The toll rates table has been updated and it notes the anticipated opening date is December 16.

DMS on I-95 now say 12/18 for opening

Press release from MDTA this morning confirming the 12/18 opening date, along with noting that the remaining extension thru the MD 24 interchange as well as the ramps from I-695 onto the northbound ETL's are expected to open by the end of 2027.

https://mdta.maryland.gov/blog-category/mdta-news-releases/maryland-transportation-authority-announces-opening-northbound-i

Overall excited about the extension opening, but my one lingering concern is the impact this might have on the existing bottleneck at exit 77/MD 24. It already congests at peak times with the drop from 4 lanes to 3, but with the ETL extension opening it'll become a drop from 6 lanes to 3 within a couple miles.

The project map on the MdTA's web site states that the next stage of the project is to extend the northbound ETL carriage way to Exit 80 (MD 543), and the project documents have consistently stated that the northbound GP lanes past Exit 77 will be widened to four lanes. Hopefully this means that the pain of the constriction from six lanes to three will be as short as possible and that the new four-lane northbound GP carriage way will be fully opened to traffic as rapidly as possible.

[MASTERNC]

MDTA website says the I-95 ETL extension to MD 152 is opening soon but there is no specific date.

UPDATE: The toll rates table has been updated and it notes the anticipated opening date is December 16.

DMS on I-95 now say 12/18 for opening

Lanes are now open

[Henry]

It's not even clear, looking at a map, where the segment of the Windlass Freeway between I-95 and I-695 would have gone. The subdivision northeast of the Back River, adjacent to the 45mph curve, looks old enough to have been built contemporaneously with the late-50s/early-60s 3-A plan; is it plausible that the SRC would have "done a Moses" and just rammed the route through the subdivision like they did with the Harbor Tunnel Thruway in northeast Baltimore?

As for the other end, there's more than enough industrial properties that could be purchased and redeveloped as a suitable route for an extension of the Windlass Freeway up to MD 700, with a "proper" terminus built to provide straightforward access to Pulaski Highway at the existing interchange with MD 700. But any further than that would require a lot of residences to be bought and demolished and I believe that there's no appetite for that anywhere in suburban MD right now.

As I recall, the stub end of Moravia Road (as well as the ghost ramp off NB I-95) was to connect to the westernmost section of the Windlass Freeway, which would continue to the curve on I-695 where Exit 37 was once reserved for it. Had this been built, SB I-895 traffic would have three choices instead of two after turning left onto Moravia, along with EB traffic already on that road: Continue straight onto the Windlass, exit to Pulaski Highway or exit to SB I-95. You mentioned the 3A plan, which did not exist until 1969; the plan that was used in the late 50s and early 60s was known as the 10D, and it was mercifully killed off because it would've proved far more destructive than the 3A that replaced it (for one, I-70 would've destroyed many more neighborhoods than the eventual I-170, and I-95 would've gone through downtown instead of to the south of it, which meant that today's skyline wouldn't exist).

The eastward extension of the Windlass is far more doable, and it helps that a power line corridor is there to potentially share an alignment with the freeway. This same corridor ends at MD 43, so the extension certainly could also end there, but the real challenge would be how to get around the developments without causing too much damage, and as experience tells us, it's never an easy feat, which leads to cancellations and delays of such projects (Chicagoland has something similar with IL 53).

[epzik8]

Sound barrier progress on MD 24 between 924/Tollgate and Singer:

[epzik8]

New guardrails on 24 coming off the Bel Air Bypass look nice, but how long will it take for their functionality to become compromised?

[Bitmapped]

I have a question for someone with knowledge of I-68/Corridor E's original construction in Garrett County.

Looking at HistoricAerials.com, Exit #14 (US 40 W/US 219 S) at Keysers Ridge was originally graded as a full cloverleaf but built as a parclo. Imagery from 1982 shows the loops in the NW and SE corners of the interchange missing. The NW corner loop was built by 1993, and the SE corner loop was built between 1995-2004.

Does anyone know why these loops were omitted originally, or conversely, why they were added after the interchange had been open for years? Traffic is light enough on the crossroad I don't think there would have been a traffic-related reason to build the ramps. The SE loop is particularly lightly used since there's little reason to go from I-68 EB to US 40 WB.

[Dirt Roads]

Does anyone know why these loops were omitted originally, or conversely, why they were added after the interchange had been open for years? Traffic is light enough on the crossroad I don't think there would have been a traffic-related reason to build the ramps.

The original Parclo was designed to support continuous US-40 traffic to/from Pennsylvania, but the whole concept of a cloverleaf at the interchange seems questionable.  I'm wondering if the allure of Garrett County resorts and state parks (particularly around Deep Creek Lake) made it too irresistible to design the interchange as a cloverleaf (which was still popular at the time).  Who knows if Maryland DOT ever realized their mistake, but it would have been better to tear all of this up and make it a "tighter" diamond.  But the westbound offramp would still have needed to be about the same length, due to the elevation change.

The SE loop is particularly lightly used since there's little reason to go from I-68 EB to US 40 WB.

While your facts are correct, you may have missed the importance of this interchange with respect to Corridor E traffic coming from West Virginia.  I used this exit a few times back in the 1970s, and then frequently from the mid-1980s through the late-1990s.  Keyser's Ridge was the first exit with anything for travelers heading east out of Morgantown.  Pretty much everyone stopped there, because there wasn't anything at the Frostburg exit yet; getting on/off at Cumberland was a black hole; there were no rest areas at Sideling Hill; getting on/off at Hancock was a black hole; getting on/off at Hagerstown was a black hole; getting on/off at Frederick was a black hole; you get the point.  Most everyone needed to stop at Keyser's Ridge or Grantsville (particularly those of us driving slugs that got 13 MPG or less).

Fortunately, I often needed to take MD-51 to Winchester and beyond, so I could actually pass Keyser's Ridge and make it to Cumberland.  But even still, I was recognized as a frequent flyer at both of the food joints in Keyser's Ridge (sadly, I can't remember either one).

[bluecountry]

1.  Are the 95ETL going to be extended going SB?
2.  What is going on at MM96 on 95?