Maryland

[epzik8]

How come the BW Parkway dont use the brown park guide signs for I-95 & 495, but the standard green ones unlike thr other exits?

There actually is a brown one now going north at the 1 mile notice (see below), but otherwise, the reason they're green is probably just for clarity, since 95/495 is an Interstate highway and not NPS property.

[epzik8]

Today, I saw a vehicle on the Farm Road overpass over I-97 for the first time ever (it's been closed for a long time and the road dead-ends just a few feet to the west). It was a DOT or surveying-type vehicle, so perhaps they're studying adjusting (or removing) it as part of the widening work that will begin in a couple of years. Just a wild guess though, idk.

[MASTERNC]

Looks like MDTA will split SB I-95 around the MD 24 interchange for most of this year.  The speed limit will be reduced but my guess is this will just extend the current slowdown that often happens north of the interchange.

https://mdta.maryland.gov/md-24-interchange-two-lane-etl-extension/#NewTrafficPattern

[Viridiscalculus]

The Reddit sub r/maryland spotted a sign goof on US 1 in College Park; the route is signed as MD 1 in both directions at an intersection with another highway.

https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/1q5jaya/saw_these_md1_signs_on_baltimore_avenue_in/

The top comment on the post is a link to Mike Pruett's US 1 page on mdroads.com. The photos are especially egregious because the sign contractor used a three-digit blank for a single digit, so there is a lot of wasted white space on the sign.

The specific intersection is US 1 (Baltimore Avenue) and Rossborough Lane. Rossborough Lane is an SR road, which is maintained by a state agency other than MDOT, likely the same organization that maintains the roads on the university campus. The Rossborough Lane intersection is where the Purple Line will intersect US 1. The rails are in place, but construction is ongoing. The Purple Line takes a slightly more direct route through the eastern part of campus than Campus Drive, which is unsigned MD 431 between US 1 and River Road at the College Park UMD Metro station.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/B6huq6jwxgxnWd6ZA

I slogged through College Park today. The 3dmd MD 1 signs have been replaced by 3dus US 1 signs.

[Plutonic Panda]

Historic bridge rehab on US-40

Historic U.S. 40 bridge over Conococheague Creek in Maryland is undergoing renovation by Kokosing Construction. The $18M project involves replacing spandrel columns, deck and adding new safety features. Completion is expected by August 2026, with plans for a kayak launch.

- https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/historic-span-undergoes-major-rehabilitation/70188

[BrianP]

After a few years of waiting the northbound I-270 ramp meters were suddenly activated earlier this month.  I don't see any coverage of this online.  Why all of a sudden and why was there a 4 year or so wait?  When the southbound ramp meters were activated in 2021 the northbound meters were supposed to be activated the next year.

[MASTERNC]

After a few years of waiting the northbound I-270 ramp meters were suddenly activated earlier this month.  I don't see any coverage of this online.  Why all of a sudden and why was there a 4 year or so wait?  When the southbound ramp meters were activated in 2021 the northbound meters were supposed to be activated the next year.

Apparently they posted the update on the project page but failed to provide a broader announcement

https://mdot-sha-i270-i70-to-i495-inno-cong-mgmt-mo0695172-maryland.hub.arcgis.com/

[MASTERNC]

Looks like MDTA will split SB I-95 around the MD 24 interchange for most of this year.  The speed limit will be reduced but my guess is this will just extend the current slowdown that often happens north of the interchange.

https://mdta.maryland.gov/md-24-interchange-two-lane-etl-extension/#NewTrafficPattern

Split pattern was delayed due to the winter storm last month but is being implemented this week

[epzik8]

I fully expect to start seeing Reddit posts soon complaining about the I-270 ramp meters or the way drivers handle them.

[1995hoo]

I fully expect to start seeing Reddit posts soon complaining about the I-270 ramp meters or the way drivers handle them.

What have people been doing? Bad behavior would not surprise me at all, of course.

[epzik8]

I fully expect to start seeing Reddit posts soon complaining about the I-270 ramp meters or the way drivers handle them.

What have people been doing? Bad behavior would not surprise me at all, of course.

Nothing that I know of, it's just that complaints about our state's highways are posted there very often.

[davewiecking]

I fully expect to start seeing Reddit posts soon complaining about the I-270 ramp meters or the way drivers handle them.

What have people been doing? Bad behavior would not surprise me at all, of course.

They were just activated, although they've been in place for years...

[noelbotevera]

Historic bridge rehab on US-40

Historic U.S. 40 bridge over Conococheague Creek in Maryland is undergoing renovation by Kokosing Construction. The $18M project involves replacing spandrel columns, deck and adding new safety features. Completion is expected by August 2026, with plans for a kayak launch.

- https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/historic-span-undergoes-major-rehabilitation/70188

This was closed months ago, so I'm surprised there's news about it now. A signed detour was set up, but it involves backtracking from I-70 Exit 18.

I hope the construction equipment doesn't do anything to the Wilson Bridge nearby; any damage to that would be a tragedy.

[Mr. Matté]

Historic bridge rehab on US-40

Historic U.S. 40 bridge over Conococheague Creek in Maryland is undergoing renovation by Kokosing Construction. The $18M project involves replacing spandrel columns, deck and adding new safety features. Completion is expected by August 2026, with plans for a kayak launch.

- https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/historic-span-undergoes-major-rehabilitation/70188

This was closed months ago, so I'm surprised there's news about it now. A signed detour was set up, but it involves backtracking from I-70 Exit 18.

I hope the construction equipment doesn't do anything to the Wilson Bridge nearby; any damage to that would be a tragedy.

During Laura's roadmeet last July we stopped at the Wilson Bridge and indeed the US 40 bridge was well under construction by then. Didn't seem like construction vehicles are affecting Wilson, the workers' personal vehicles were parked at the little parking lot next to the eastern park there. The main construction access is on the south side of the US 40 bridge.

[roadman65]

I could have swore I posted about MD 20, but I didnt. Anyway why does it transition from MD 291 at a roundabout west of MD 213 and not MD 213 itself which would make more sense?

It seems odd that a mutual terminus at another route seems most appropriate than at a typical cross street.

Is there  a history here of the routes being different that changed over the years or something.

[cockroachking]

MD-20 used to continue east on High St into downtown Chestertown, before was truncated in 1985. See page 62 of this document.

[epzik8]

New movement from MD 24 north to I-95 north is active today.

[epzik8]

Somebody on Reddit posed this question:

[Plutonic Panda]

In what way would something like that not have helped? More infrastructure is what's needed not less.

[Beltway]

Somebody on Reddit posed this question:

That Mason Neck route and Potomac crossing would be very problematic environmentally.

Routing along the VA-207/US-301 corridor would be a very helpful eastern outer bypass of Washington.

[TheOneKEA]

The portion through the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge would have been and is very problematic with me; that area needs to remain unmolested by any development and a four-lane freeway would have affected it significantly. However, the improvements to US 301 between Bowie and Brandywine would be a tremendous improvement to the traffic flows of the region and would significantly reduce pollution from the throngs of cars that are already there and aren't going away, ever. "Induced demand" advocates seem to think that artificially constraining the major road network in Southern Maryland will somehow convince people to take a bus or spontaneously start up new carpools or vanpools; I disagree with this belief, and feel that improving US 301 and allowing through traffic to flow steadily would be a substantial improvement to everyone's quality of life and provide more capacity for road-borne transit to even be attempted.

[Rothman]

I doubt that map is an exact mapping of the actual proposal?  I mean, it's a reddit post that looks like it was scribbled by crayon.

[davewiecking]

I doubt that map is an exact mapping of the actual proposal?  I mean, it's a reddit post that looks like it was scribbled by crayon.

Most of those scribbles show rights of way that were set aside for highways. But not all of it (ahem, I-270 to the Potomac).

I seem to recall reading the Patuxent Refuge, which is the major reason the ICC stops where it does, was on the chopping block.

[Rothman]

I doubt that map is an exact mapping of the actual proposal?  I mean, it's a reddit post that looks like it was scribbled by crayon.

Most of those scribbles show rights of way that were set aside for highways. But not all of it (ahem, I-270 to the Potomac).

I seem to recall reading the Patuxent Refuge, which is the major reason the ICC stops where it does, was on the chopping block.

See the bottom of the provided screenshot which outright says it is only a rough idea...

[1995hoo]

See the bottom of the provided screenshot which outright says it is only a rough idea...

The Northern Virginia Major Thoroughfare Plan published in the late 1960s, for example, had the Outer Beltway's southern crossing of the Potomac located a little further north than is shown on that sketch. The maps in that plan still had it crossing around Mason Neck, but on the north side of that peninsula (it would have touched down in Virginia roughly around River Road on this map). On the sketch above, the crossing would have been roughly to the left of the word "Accokeek" on the Maryland side (a little further down, but roughly there). As Beltway notes, there would have been environmental issues; there also would have been historic preservation concerns due to the proximity to Gunston Hall, which was George Mason's home.

For anyone who might be in the DC area and interested in such things, the Thoroughfare Plan is available at the public library in Fairfax City (corner of Old Lee Highway and North Street) in the "Virginia Room."