I-895 (Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway)

[jmacswimmer]

I honestly do not see how weekend closures of I-895 right now to remove the toll plaza would be absolutely brutal to Baltimore through traffic, but that is just me.

I don't see why weekend closures would be needed at all, other than for a random few occasions. Plazas all over the US have been removed and its rare to need closures. The 895 plaza is wide enough to keep traffic in the middle lanes while the outer lanes are demolished, then shift traffic to the outside while the middle lanes are demolished. Pretty standard stuff.

Then again you can see the I-95 toll lanes further north were demolished, yet they oddly left a few toll island ramparts. It's like they did 99.3% of the work, then sloppily walkwd away from the final few days worth of demolishing.  I assume there was a tunnel underneath the lanes; not sure if that's still remains in that area.

I recall the JFK Highway conversion being marketed as "interim highway-speed AET" during construction, so it seems the intent was always to do the minimum possible there for some reason with the intent to finish the work later. Although I don't know why it was necessary to do it that way when all the other MDTA conversions were done "fully", and what they would be waiting for now to finish the conversion.

https://mdta.maryland.gov/JFK-Highway - sure enough, "The project will implement highway-speed AET at the JFK toll plaza on an interim basis until permanent AET conversion can be studied, designed, and constructed."

Re: 895, they absolutely could remove the toll plaza without closures. As it stands, heading northbound the 3 middle toll lanes are already semi-permanently closed and barreled off (in an attempt to ease the bottleneck past the booths made worse by the Key Bridge), and that's probably where they'd start demolition anyway. The removals at Fort McHenry Tunnel, Bay Bridge, & Tydings Bridge all started with just enough of the middle lanes/booths to then route traffic thru. (And in the case of the Tydings Bridge, that's where the lanes still are.)

[1995hoo]

Good call on delaying the project until after the new Key Bridge has been built and opened to traffic. And with I-95's own toll plaza having been demolished and replaced with a toll gantry, the erecting of the new I-895 toll gantry means that all three crossings will now have their respective ones on the same side of the river (not counting the ones at Childs Street), whereas the old toll plaza on I-895 was the only one that was on the opposite side of those on I-95 and I-695.

With all due respect, what difference does it make whether the toll collection points are on the same side of the river?

[boilerup25]

Good call on delaying the project until after the new Key Bridge has been built and opened to traffic. And with I-95's own toll plaza having been demolished and replaced with a toll gantry, the erecting of the new I-895 toll gantry means that all three crossings will now have their respective ones on the same side of the river (not counting the ones at Childs Street), whereas the old toll plaza on I-895 was the only one that was on the opposite side of those on I-95 and I-695.

With all due respect, what difference does it make whether the toll collection points are on the same side of the river?

Probably has something to do with the location of exit ramps.

[epzik8]

If there's a bright side to being stuck in nearly stationary traffic in the Harbor Tunnel, it's discovering the older-style MDTA mile markers on the sidewalls of the tunnel:

[MASTERNC]

If there's a bright side to being stuck in nearly stationary traffic in the Harbor Tunnel, it's discovering the older-style MDTA mile markers on the sidewalls of the tunnel:

I'm guessing the fire exits are at the ends of the tunnel judging by the distances listed?

[epzik8]

If there's a bright side to being stuck in nearly stationary traffic in the Harbor Tunnel, it's discovering the older-style MDTA mile markers on the sidewalls of the tunnel:

I'm guessing the fire exits are at the ends of the tunnel judging by the distances listed?

They are.

[epzik8]

Harbor Tunnel tolls have been moved to the north end of the tunnel, which was much earlier than I expected. Also love that they spent money on vertical height clearance signs.

[1995hoo]

Harbor Tunnel tolls have been moved to the north end of the tunnel, which was much earlier than I expected. Also love that they spent money on vertical height clearance signs.

I haven't been through the Harbor Tunnel in many years, probably not since 2009 or 2010. But I was looking at Google Street View and noticed these odd "Wipers OFF Please" signs at the old toll plaza. Anyone know what the reason for those was? Did wipers tend to flick rainwater onto the toll collectors?

[jmacswimmer]

Harbor Tunnel tolls have been moved to the north end of the tunnel, which was much earlier than I expected. Also love that they spent money on vertical height clearance signs.

The new gantry is located next to the former Fort McHenry Tunnel toll plaza on I-95, just south of the Canton Viaduct (I took this in September, when the gantry appeared finished but wasn't yet activated):



Even though the toll plaza is no longer collecting tolls as of yesterday, it will not be removed for several more years until after the Key Bridge replacement is open. The removal will be part of a larger project reconfiguring exits 8 & 9 on either side of the toll plaza as well as replacing the bridges carrying I-895 over Frankfurst Ave & Childs St. As the current construction phasing calls for single-lane traffic similar to what was done with the Canton Viaduct to the north of the tunnel, MDTA will not proceed with this project until the Key Bridge can serve as a detour route once again.

https://mdta.maryland.gov/I895TollPlaza

I haven't been through the Harbor Tunnel in many years, probably not since 2009 or 2010. But I was looking at Google Street View and noticed these odd "Wipers OFF Please" signs at the old toll plaza. Anyone know what the reason for those was? Did wipers tend to flick rainwater onto the toll collectors?

That's always been my assumption as well - I remember driving on the PA Turnpike years ago during a downpour and consciously making the effort to turn my wipers off prior to reaching the booth at Breezewood, thinking I would soak the toll collector.

[Dirt Roads]

I haven't been through the Harbor Tunnel in many years, probably not since 2009 or 2010. But I was looking at Google Street View and noticed these odd "Wipers OFF Please" signs at the old toll plaza. Anyone know what the reason for those was? Did wipers tend to flick rainwater onto the toll collectors?

That's always been my assumption as well - I remember driving on the PA Turnpike years ago during a downpour and consciously making the effort to turn my wipers off prior to reaching the booth at Breezewood, thinking I would soak the toll collector.

Back in days-gone-by, we were taught in Driver's Ed courses to turn wipers off at all drive-through windows and toll booths.  I realize that West Virginia (being a "turnpike state") may have had a biased reason for such teachings.  But today, I feel like I'm the only person in the drive-through that turns off their wipers.

[epzik8]

Harbor Tunnel tolls have been moved to the north end of the tunnel, which was much earlier than I expected. Also love that they spent money on vertical height clearance signs.

The new gantry is located next to the former Fort McHenry Tunnel toll plaza on I-95, just south of the Canton Viaduct (I took this in September, when the gantry appeared finished but wasn't yet activated):

Now that you've posted this, I realize that I've driven under this many times this year, but half the time it's been at night and thus I didn't realize it was the new toll gantry.