Detour

The Maryland State Highway Administration has postponed the planned closure of Route 1 at Conowingo Dam until Monday, Nov. 14, the agency said Wednesday, citing weather concerns. The SHA had planned to close part of Route 1 at Conowingo Dam all day Thursday in order to resurface and repair highway damage at the intersection of Routes 1 and Route 222 (Rock Spring Road) caused by a fuel tanker truck accident and spill Oct. 26. The same work will now be done Monday because inclement weather was forecast for Thursday, SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar said.

Portions of Interstate 81 in Harrisburg, Pa., are expected to remain closed for several more days following a massive fuel tanker crash and explosion Thursday morning that damaged the highway and bridge, Pennsylvania transportation officials said. Northbound lanes at Exit 59 (Route 581) are blocked and the southbound interstate remains closed at Exit 70, the I-83 split. A tanker loaded with 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel flipped and exploded in a fireball that burned for 45 minutes and was so intense that it melted guardrails and the asphalt pavement, state police said.

Commuters fighting traffic on U.S. 50 now have another battle on their hands, especially if they use Route 3 to get home to Crofton or Gambrills.Since construction on the interchange at routes 3 and 50 began yesterday, drivers who want to head north on Route 3 from the John Hanson Highway -- renamed the "Capital Corridor" -- will have to take a detour.A State Highway Administration spokesman, who did not want his name used because of the governor's restrictions on talking to the media, said he did not know how long construction will last.

A one-vehicle collision in Anne Arundel County on the Baltimore Washington Parkway South at MD 32 has closed one of two southbound traffic lanes and one of two southbound shoulders at 7:53 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation. The Baltimore City Department of Transportation said that new traffic patterns will be implemented along a portion of Charles Street on Monday as the city undergoes the Phase I Detour of its Charles Street Reconstruction Project. The transportation authority said that northbound Charles Street from 28th Street to University Parkway will be open only for local traffic and emergency vehicles.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman's superb performance against the Mariners Wednesday afternoon earned him another start after the All-Star break. So why did the Orioles immediately option Tillman to Double-A Bowie following their 4-2 win over Seattle? The main reason is because the Orioles want Tillman to continue pitching throughout next week's break instead of taking 10 days off. So he will start for Bowie -- he last pitched for the Baysox in 2008 -- on Monday. He will then get in extra days of rest before being activated to pitch a week from Sunday -- the first day he's eligible to return -- against the Tigers.

In 1992, Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 Detour became the first example of sub-B moviemaking to win a place on the Library of Congress' Nation Film Registry; tomorrow it becomes the first of its kind to win a spot in the Charles Theatre's Saturday revival series. Ulmer, a gifted German craftsman, fled the Nazis in the early '30s. He created one big-studio horror classic (The Black Cat) and several fondly remembered Yiddish films (including The Light Ahead) before becoming an expert in no-budget genre movies on Hollywood's "Poverty Row."

A water main break on North Avenue is forcing drivers to detour around a block of the main thoroughfare, a city Public Works spokesman said Tuesday evening. The break on North and Madison avenues is in a 6-inch main and mainly affects motorists, though about 45 homes and two businesses are without water, spokesman Kurt Kocher said. The break and repair work is blocking westbound traffic on North Avenue between Eutaw Place and Madison Avenue. The block will be shut down until repairs are completed, Kocher said.

THE PROBLEM -- A traffic detour around road construction in Overlea is too long, so motorists are instead using a neighborhood shortcut that is too narrow to handle the increased traffic. THE BACKSTORY -- Last month, a contractor for Baltimore County's Public Works Department began a $1.2 million project to fix curbs, gutters, storm drains and sidewalks along Kenwood Avenue between Leslie and Lyndale avenues in Overlea. The work takes place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. An official detour redirects Kenwood Avenue traffic onto a long loop that follows Lillian Holt Drive, Rossville Boulevard and Belair Road.

Fire destroyed a house trailer in the 8400 block of Forest Stream Club Road in Detour about 8 p.m. Friday night, causing no injuries but leaving a family of seven homeless."

The county commissioners approved a plan yesterday that will detour traffic during the initial reconstruction phase of Obrecht Road in South Carroll.Plans call for realigning what is a winding road with poor sight distance from Route 97 to White Rock Road. The second phase will take Obrecht to Route 32 in or near the town of Sykesville.J. Michael Evans, county director of public works, has recommended closing the one-mile segment to traffic from Route 97 east to White Rock for the duration of the work, which is expected to take most of the construction season next year.

Beginning today (Monday, April 22) the Maryland State Highway Administration said it will temporarily close Loflin Road at Route 7 (Old Philadelphia Road) near Aberdeen to relocate a Harford County water line under Route 7, a project that will take several months. The road closure and water line work is expected to be completed in late summer, weather permitting, the SHA said in a news release.  A detour route will direct motorists to westbound Route 40 (Pulaski Highway).   For safety and to complete the construction work, crews may temporarily close a single lane of Route 7 or Route 40 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday.  There may be occasional lane closures on Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.    Motorists with questions or concerns about the project may contact the SHA project field office in Aberdeen at 410-272-1805 or SHA's District 4 Office - Construction Division at 410-229-2420; toll free at 1-877-998-0367, or by e-mail: shadistrict4@sha.state.md.us .    While SHA and its transportation partners work hard to maintain safe traffic mobility in work zones, drivers are reminded to stay alert and look for reduced speed limits, narrow driving lanes and highway workers. Slow down and don't follow too closely. 

Over months of investigating the proliferation of speed cameras in Maryland, many of The Baltimore Sun's attempts to get data and other information from government officials were met with delays, detours and dead ends. Howard County, for example, refused to provide the license tag numbers of the vehicles that its cameras have nailed for speeding. By contrast, Baltimore, Baltimore County and the State Highway Administration - which fall under the same public-records law that Howard does - all provided tag numbers, even if it took some prodding and multiple attempts to get the correct figures.

Julie Culley had retired from competitive running, finishing her career at Rutgers burned out and banged up as a fifth-year senior. She had started the next phase of her life, coaching the women's track team at Loyola College and assisting the men's and women's cross country teams. Then she bumped into American coach Matt Centrowitz at a meet and confusion set in. "He really brought me back to life as an athlete," Culley, now 31, recalled. "He asked me why I was coaching. He said, 'You're too young to be coaching full time.

Now is the time. Early fall is when the pleasures peak in Talbot and Dorchester counties. That's when these Eastern Shore towns stop being detours along the way to the shore and turn into full-fledged destinations. There are practical advantages to visiting St. Michaels, Easton and Cambridge after Labor Day. Hotel rates plunge, beach traffic is a nonissue and the kids are, as they say, back in school. There are even a few reasons to put off an Eastern Shore trip as late into fall as you can. Migrating wildfowl begin to arrive here in late October.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman's superb performance against the Mariners Wednesday afternoon earned him another start after the All-Star break. So why did the Orioles immediately option Tillman to Double-A Bowie following their 4-2 win over Seattle? The main reason is because the Orioles want Tillman to continue pitching throughout next week's break instead of taking 10 days off. So he will start for Bowie -- he last pitched for the Baysox in 2008 -- on Monday. He will then get in extra days of rest before being activated to pitch a week from Sunday -- the first day he's eligible to return -- against the Tigers.

As of 4:30 p.m. there were several incidents slowing traffic on area roadways: There is a disabled vehicle on the inner loop of Interstate 695, the Baltimore Beltway, at Exit 21 to Maryland Route 129/Park Heights Avenue. A vehicle is on fire on southbound Interstate 95 at Exit 38, to Maryland Route 32, closing the right lane and shoulder. The vehicle is expected to be cleared shortly. Beginning at 7 p.m., crews will being closing travel lanes on the inner loop of the Baltimore Beltway in Catonsville as part of the State Highway Administration's replacement of the Wilkens Avenue overpass.

Truck traffic will have to detour around Route 140 in Taneytown for more than two years, the State Highway Administration said yesterday. Starting today, vehicles weighing 5 tons or more will be diverted around central Taneytown until an $18 million streetscape project is completed in the spring of 2011. Passenger vehicles, local delivery trucks and school buses will continue to have the use of the two-mile stretch of Route 140 during the project. The truck detour was necessary for the safety of pedestrians and work crews, the agency said.

A Hagerstown man who attended a Civil War re-enactment in New York last summer has sued William Wickham, accusing the Detour man of assaulting him.Michael B. Wicklein, whose company is Video Vision of Hagerstown, seeks $200,000 in damages for alleged assault and battery in a civil case filed last week in Carroll County Circuit Court. It names as sole defendant "William `Dirty Billy' Wickham," of the 7500 block Middleburg Road in Detour.According to the lawsuit, Wickham became angry and struck Wicklein in the face and body July 18 in Genesee Village, near Rochester, N.Y.Neither Wicklein nor Wickham could be reached for comment.

What do you get with some marital conflict, product placement, joking around and weepy, back-slapping man hugs? "The Amazing Race"in Italy, obviously.   Hamartia I finally get to use the word hamartia in a recap to show off my knowledge of old terminology from Greek literature! Check that off my bucket list! It means fatal flaw, and it frequently points its hamartanein finger at pride.   Ralph and JJ, the Border Patrol Agents, are full of pride (or hubris, if we are still flinging fancy words around)

The Maryland State Highway Administration has postponed the planned closure of Route 1 at Conowingo Dam until Monday, Nov. 14, the agency said Wednesday, citing weather concerns. The SHA had planned to close part of Route 1 at Conowingo Dam all day Thursday in order to resurface and repair highway damage at the intersection of Routes 1 and Route 222 (Rock Spring Road) caused by a fuel tanker truck accident and spill Oct. 26. The same work will now be done Monday because inclement weather was forecast for Thursday, SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar said.