Maryland

[Beltway]

The Interstate 70N/S split lasted until 1974. I think it should have been 70 and 270 to begin with (with former 270, now 270 Spur being Interstate 470).

I-70N was never completed before that change. Part about 1967, part about 1975, and the section near Ijamsville Road opened about 1988.

[TheOneKEA]

Are there any known records of I-70N shields being planned to be posted on the eastern segment of the Frederick Freeway west of Patrick Street? I am curious how the SRC was planning to provide wayfinding for eastbound traffic on US 40 while I-70N was under construction.

[Beltway]

Are there any known records of I-70N shields being planned to be posted on the eastern segment of the Frederick Freeway west of Patrick Street? I am curious how the SRC was planning to provide wayfinding for eastbound traffic on US 40 while I-70N was under construction.

The first time I drove the route was in 1975 or 1976, and it had been changed to I-70. All complete except Frederick Bypass to Ijamsville Road. On the bypass, I don't recall the signing.

[epzik8]

Several of these signs have appeared along MD 24 between Singer and Wheel roads in Abingdon/Bel Air and I think they're pretty neat.

[Plutonic Panda]

I guess they're kind of cool, but I really don't see the point in them I mean, wouldn't most of the exposed land that doesn't have trees that isn't farmland that have wildflowers be pollinator habitats? To sign like this just make areas more cluttered and ugly.

[Dirt Roads]

I guess they're kind of cool, but I really don't see the point in them I mean, wouldn't most of the exposed land that doesn't have trees that isn't farmland that have wildflowers be pollinator habitats? To sign like this just make areas more cluttered and ugly.

Isn't this "Pollinator" sign supposed to be a reminder for crews not to mow in this area?

[lepidopteran]

I guess they're kind of cool, but I really don't see the point in them I mean, wouldn't most of the exposed land that doesn't have trees that isn't farmland that have wildflowers be pollinator habitats? To sign like this just make areas more cluttered and ugly.

Isn't this "Pollinator" sign supposed to be a reminder for crews not to mow in this area?

There's that, plus there was another issue that came up when states started planting wildflower sections along highways.  It turned out that too many people were stopping to pick the flowers before they had a chance to be pollinated.  As such, the flowers were not reappearing in the following seasons.

[Stephane Dumas]

I saw that clip about Baltimore's highway to nowhere.

[Plutonic Panda]

It wouldn't have been a highway to nowhere if they would've fucking finished it.

[TheOneKEA]

It wouldn't have been a highway to nowhere if they would've fucking finished it.

After reading The Big Roads by Earl Swift, I can confidently say that we got the worst possible outcome of the 1969 plan. We neither got the fast, modern route into West Baltimore, nor did we retain a thriving, functional urban community that could have grown up around the former PRR/current MARC station. Unless there is a truly, mind-bogglingly, stunningly radical change in the future of Leakin Park, it is unlikely that we will ever see any limited-access roadway from the Beltway to West Baltimore. So with that in mind it would be better to have a serious discussion about complete removal and replacement with something else.

[Beltway]

It wouldn't have been a highway to nowhere if they would've fucking finished it.

After reading The Big Roads by Earl Swift, I can confidently say that we got the worst possible outcome of the 1969 plan. We neither got the fast, modern route into West Baltimore, nor did we retain a thriving, functional urban community that could have grown up around the former PRR/current MARC station. Unless there is a truly, mind-bogglingly, stunningly radical change in the future of Leakin Park, it is unlikely that we will ever see any limited-access roadway from the Beltway to West Baltimore. So with that in mind it would be better to have a serious discussion about complete removal and replacement with something else.

I wrote my history about the Baltimore Interstate system in 1997, and Earl Swift interviewed me and wrote an article for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2005 about my website. That was his employer then.

It took a great deal of effort to get I-95 and I-395 built.

The I-70/I-170 complex would be great from a traffic engineering standpoint, and cancellation was in 1981. The problem was the massive impacts going through Leakin Park and Gwynns Falls Park and building thru the valley along Gwynns Falls down to I-95.

The 1.4 miles of I-170 built in the mid-1970s was left as a "stranded asset" that had taken out 16 blocks of West Baltimore. I would hate to think what it would cost to backfill that trench and restore back to ground level.

https://www.roadstothefuture.com/I70_Leakin_Park.html

[Bitmapped]

I drove US 40 Scenic across the top of Sideling Hill today for the first time in a number of years. While the road was built with long climbing lanes for both sides of the hill, they're now gone. Washington County chip-sealed a two-lane wide surface down the center of the road and restriped the road as two lanes. The original edge lines from the 3-lane configuration are still there, just on what is now the shoulder. They did keep the arrangement with a painted island in the center at the very top of the hairpin curve.

The Washington County Parks and Recreation Department has reopened the old rest area site near the top of Sideling Hill. It had been blocked off for years with guardrail, but it's now open with a new sign marking it as a picnic area and scenic overlook. They've repaved the parking lot and built roofs over three separate picnic tables along the edge of the parking lot. There's a nice view of the High Germany Road exit on I-68 to the west from the overlook.

[akt85]

Speaking of US 40, I highly recommend the National Road Museum in Boonsboro. I guess technically the museum is on Alternate 40, but still a neat little attraction about the history of America's first federally funded road.

[epzik8]

New signal at US 1 and Reckord Road in Fallston/Pleasant Hills is operational.