Capital Beltway

A two-mile stretch of the Capital Beltway was closed for about five hours yesterday after a truck overturned in Virginia, just south of Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, spilling 500 gallons of hot tar onto the road and snaring thousands of morning commuters on one of the stickiest days of the year. Hundreds of southbound cars caught between the accident site and the Interstate 295 interchange in Maryland were diverted while work crews cleaned up the mess. The Wilson bridge carries the Beltway (Interstate 495)

COLLEGE PARK - For Jeremy Korr, the question is fast becoming what won't people do on the Capital Beltway. The 28-year-old graduate student at the University of Maryland has discovered that they'll put on makeup, fly kites, send e-mail, read novels, play poker, revive a romance and even shave while driving along one of the nation's busiest and most traffic-choked highways. One thing is certain: The old "hands at 10 and 2" steering-wheel position appears to be a relic found only in driver's education textbooks.

There's a P3 in your future. Maryland is poised to join 34 states and key federal agencies in transforming the way government works. The new mantra, "P3," is shorthand for public-private partnerships. Maryland's P3 legislation, championed by Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, enables state agencies to engage business in planning, financing, building and operating public projects, from roads and rail to schools and other infrastructure. These could offset up to 10 percent of the state's capital budget, or $300 million annually, and create thousands of jobs.

Clarification An editorial on Wednesday implied that the Capital Beltway is included in the District of Columbia's ban on hand-held cellular phones. It is not.

In Howard County Catonsville man dies, woman is hurt in Route 29 accident ELLICOTT CITY -- A man was killed and a woman injured yesterday when their sport utility vehicle collided with a car on Route 29, police said. About 2 p.m., Juan F. Dos Santos, 23, of the 400 block of Kent Ave. in Catonsville was driving north on Route 29. He was weaving through traffic and passing other vehicles on the shoulder when his vehicle struck the right front of a Chevrolet Malibu, police said. Dos Santos and a passenger, Bianca Bacarreza, 20, of the 400 block of Blue Wing Court in Columbia, were thrown from the vehicle.

Where: FitzGerald Tennis Center, Rock Creek Park, WashingtonWhen: Monday through July 20. Sessions daily beginning at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.Field: Defending champion Michael Chang (1) and Andre Agassi (2) lead the 56-man draw.Tickets: Call 703-276-4274 or Ticketmaster at 410-481-SEAT.Directions: Take I-95 south to I-495 west (Capital Beltway). Take southbound exit onto Georgia Avenue. Veer right on 16th Street to Kennedy Street and park on right.Pub Date: 7/12/97

A bill that would have banned the use of hand-held cellular phones while driving was killed yesterday by a House of Delegates committee. The Commerce and Government Matters Committee voted 14-7 to reject the bill proposed by Del. John S. Arnick, a Baltimore County Democrat. The bill would have made Maryland the first state to adopt such a ban. Advocates had hoped lawmakers would be swayed by a 1999 case in which a car went off the Capital Beltway and killed a New York couple. The Fort Washington driver was talking on his cell phone when the accident occurred.

The game is over for the Sideline, a glitzy restaurant and sports bar in Largo owned by former Washington Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington. Owing millions of dollars to numerous creditors and faced with possible eviction from the Boulevard at the Capital Centre, the money-losing business closed abruptly Wednesday. Employees showed up at work to find movers clearing the place out, and they told television station WJLA (Channel 7) that they were angry that they weren't getting paid.

A pilot project to install toll lanes on some of the state's most congested highways has stirred such concern that state officials have indefinitely postponed a round of public meetings on the issue that was set to begin tonight. In a report to the General Assembly in November, officials outlined a plan to test "variable pricing" as a tool to reduce traffic at three locations: Interstate 270 from the Capital Beltway to Interstate 70, U.S. 50 from the Capital Beltway to U.S. 301, and at the Bay Bridge.

Baltimore-area residents traveling south this weekend are being urged to avoid the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, where transportation officials are planning to close three lanes as part of the mammoth project to replace the span that carries Interstate 95 over the Potomac River. The inner loop of the Capital Beltway from Interstate 295 in Maryland to U.S. 1 in Virginia will be reduced from four lanes to one. The lane closings, which will let construction crews pour asphalt, will begin at 8 p.m. today and continue until as late as 5 a.m. Monday.