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Richmond to Baltimore trip

Started by Takumi, October 01, 2017, 09:28:53 AM

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Takumi

Yesterday I headed up to Baltimore (fine, Glen Burnie, close enough) for a car show. I was supposed to meet someone in the Port Royal area, so my planned route there was US 301. The other person dropped out, but I took 301 up anyway. My unfortunate route was US 301 to MD 3 to I-97 up, and I-97 to US 50/301/I-595 to the Beltway to I-95 back.

Clinches: US 301 in Virginia, MD 3, I-97 (first 2di clinch, even if it is a cheapie), I-495 (VA/MD).

New routes driven but not clinched: VA 206, MD 5, MD 100, MD 2, I-695 (MD), VA 286, VA 294.

Random thoughts and observations:
-US 301 in Caroline County is easily the most boring road I've ever driven. I think I got highway hypnosis for a minute. If the Bowling Green turn hadn't been there I definitely would have. But there's a state-name I-95 shield approaching the bypass, so that's cool.
-If you're taking 301 in King George County and need gas, stop in the Dahlgren area. It's significantly cheaper than anywhere else in the corridor.
-The Harry Nice Bridge. Never again.
-La Plata wasn't bad. A few slowdowns, but nothing I'm not used to.
-Waldorf. Never again.
-For some reason there's a US 301 END shield on its MD 5 overlap.
-301 between Waldorf and Bowie isn't particularly notable other having a fair amount of signals.
-Crofton. Never again. Should have followed 301 onto US 50/I-595 instead of going straight on MD 3 (although I did get a clinch, apparently).
-There's a state-name I-97 shield northbound not terribly far after MD 3 joins it.
-MD 100 has that old-school freeway feel to it.
-In order to clinch I-97, I needed to head north from MD 100, then turn around and drive the whole thing southbound. I did this by getting onto the inner loop of I-695, then turning around at the B-W parkway. Even on Saturday night these roads are packed! I-97 is fairly unremarkable south of MD 3.
-I-595 is a nice road. Too bad it's a secret designation. Did not clinch it, need whatever is east of I-97 to do so.
-In order to clinch I-495, I needed to do the half west of I-95. That meant I had to go all the way around from 50/595 to the northern split, through Silver Spring, past I-270, across the American Legion Bridge into Virginia, through Tyson's Corner. Traffic was thick the whole time, but manageable. The Express Lanes were on the Outer Loop, so I got to see the prices. The whole run for them to the Springfield Interchange was only $3.55.
-Tyson's looks like its own downtown area. It's massive.
-I-95 was fairly uneventful, other than an accident slowdown in Caroline County.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.


epzik8

From the land of red, white, yellow and black.
____________________________

My clinched highways: http://tm.teresco.org/user/?u=epzik8
My clinched counties: http://mob-rule.com/user-gifs/USA/epzik8.gif

Jmiles32

Sounds like quite the adventure. Any new traffic improvements/ideas your trip made you think about?  I also did a Richmond to Baltimore trip recently and IMO in order to make US-301 a more reliable alternative to I-95, as many lights as possible would need to be eliminated and replaced with grade separated interchanges. I'm not necessarily saying make US-301 an interstate, but if the corridor looked something similar to say what Virginia will eventually do with VA-7 from north of VA-28 to Berryville, that would definitively be a huge improvement. I'm hoping Virginia does something like this to US-29 at some point too.
Aspiring Transportation Planner at Virginia Tech. Go Hokies!

Takumi

Quote from: Jmiles32 on October 01, 2017, 04:33:32 PM
Sounds like quite the adventure. Any new traffic improvements/ideas your trip made you think about?  I also did a Richmond to Baltimore trip recently and IMO in order to make US-301 a more reliable alternative to I-95, as many lights as possible would need to be eliminated and replaced with grade separated interchanges. I'm not necessarily saying make US-301 an interstate, but if the corridor looked something similar to say what Virginia will eventually do with VA-7 from north of VA-28 to Berryville, that would definitively be a huge improvement. I'm hoping Virginia does something like this to US-29 at some point too.
Yeah, I can agree with you on that, at least on the Maryland side. I could see an upgraded US 301 providing a great alternative to I-95 to Baltimore, especially given how prominently signed Richmond is on I-97 southbound. And Waldorf needs a bypass.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

Jmiles32

Quote from: Takumi on October 01, 2017, 08:49:54 PM
And Waldorf needs a bypass.
^ With all the crazy development/sprawl around that area there is basically no place an effective Waldorf bypass could go.
Quote from: Takumi on October 01, 2017, 08:49:54 PM
Yeah, I can agree with you on that, at least on the Maryland side. I could see an upgraded US 301 providing a great alternative to I-95 to Baltimore, especially given how prominently signed Richmond is on I-97 southbound.
I always thought it was interesting how Maryland (and soon Virginia) present US-301 as pretty much a bypass of the D.C area when as of now, it really isn't. Hopefully Maryland and Virginia will realize that if they really want to get more cars off I-95 and the Capital Beltway, they'll have to do a lot more to the US-301 corridor than just rebuild/widen the Nice Bridge.
Aspiring Transportation Planner at Virginia Tech. Go Hokies!

Takumi

Quote from: Jmiles32 on October 01, 2017, 09:56:55 PM
Quote from: Takumi on October 01, 2017, 08:49:54 PM
And Waldorf needs a bypass.
^ With all the crazy development/sprawl around that area there is basically no place an effective Waldorf bypass could go.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. There's no real way to bypass it unless you're really bypassing it, like extending I-97 down to the La Plata area.

Quote from: Jmiles32
Quote from: Takumi on October 01, 2017, 08:49:54 PM
Yeah, I can agree with you on that, at least on the Maryland side. I could see an upgraded US 301 providing a great alternative to I-95 to Baltimore, especially given how prominently signed Richmond is on I-97 southbound.
I always thought it was interesting how Maryland (and soon Virginia) present US-301 as pretty much a bypass of the D.C area when as of now, it really isn't. Hopefully Maryland and Virginia will realize that if they really want to get more cars off I-95 and the Capital Beltway, they'll have to do a lot more to the US-301 corridor than just rebuild/widen the Nice Bridge.
Agreed. The Fort AP Hill section isn't too bad (other than being mind-numbingly boring), but Port Royal would have to be bypassed, and that would likely necessitate a second bridge over the Rappahannock, which isn't happening in our lifetimes. I imagine Dahlgren is a choke point during the week, too.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

froggie

Quote-The Harry Nice Bridge. Never again.

Did you get caught up in the single-lane work?  I'd heard they've been replacing some bridge joints.  However, the proposed 4-lane replacement is much needed.

Quote-Waldorf. Never again.

Must've been a crash or something.  Waldorf usually isn't bad except during rush hour.  That said, some sort of controlled-access facility would be useful, but it'd likely require upgrading the existing roadway ($$$$$$$) at this point given the above-mentioned sprawl.

Quote-Crofton. Never again. Should have followed 301 onto US 50/I-595 instead of going straight on MD 3 (although I did get a clinch, apparently).

Despite the signals, my own fairly-extensive experience is that 3 is still generally less time than taking 50 to 97.

Quote-Tyson's looks like its own downtown area. It's massive.

Tyson's is, in some regards, the "downtown" of Fairfax County.  Even though the seat of government is technically Fairfax City, Tyson's is certainly is the financial core.

Takumi

Quote from: froggie on October 02, 2017, 08:20:25 AM
Did you get caught up in the single-lane work?  I'd heard they've been replacing some bridge joints.  However, the proposed 4-lane replacement is much needed.
It was open both ways, but there was a steel plate on the uphill part, and it felt generally intimidating. Even the CBBT tunnels felt less imposing to me with their two-way traffic.

Quote
Quote-Waldorf. Never again.

Must've been a crash or something.  Waldorf usually isn't bad except during rush hour.  That said, some sort of controlled-access facility would be useful, but it'd likely require upgrading the existing roadway ($$$$$$$) at this point given the above-mentioned sprawl.
No, no crash or anything. Just lots of traffic and one red after another. You're right, anything to get around it would be a massive expense. One thought is to extend 97 through some of the less developed terrain to the east of everything and have it meet back up with 301 south of La Plata, but that's pretty farfetched.

Quote
Quote-Crofton. Never again. Should have followed 301 onto US 50/I-595 instead of going straight on MD 3 (although I did get a clinch, apparently).

Despite the signals, my own fairly-extensive experience is that 3 is still generally less time than taking 50 to 97.
Good to know. I guess because 97 flings so far east.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.



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