Harbor Tunnel

Maryland drivers pay an added $425 in vehicle costs because of rough roads, compared with the national average of $335, according to a report being released today by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. The report examines how states spend federal money for maintenance of aging highways and bridges. Although Maryland has a history of major road construction, the report praises the state for devoting money to repairs before new construction. "Maryland inherits some really bad projects in this respect, but it has gotten better over the years," said Phineas Baxandall, senior analyst for tax and budget policy for U.S. PIRG and an author of the report.

Baltimore Public Works crews have fixed a 20-inch water main break that flooded roads Tuesday night near the Harbor Tunnel. The break was repaired about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday and is not expected to affect the morning commute, according to a Public Works spokesman. Keith Avenue in Southeast Baltimore was closed about 6 p.m. after a break happened at the joining of an old and new main. The road reopened about three hours later. Crews shut off water valves and worked overnight to repair the break.

A water main break that has caused at least one road to become impassable near the Harbor Tunnel Throughway Tuesday will likely not be repaired until Wednesday. Keith Avenue in southeast Baltimore was shut down after a water main break caused flooding in the area, said Kurt Kocher, Department of Public Works spokesman, though the road was later reopened around 9:3- p.m. He said a break in a 20 inch water main around 6 p.m. has caused "a lot of flooding," but the Harbor Tunnel has not been affected.

George Albert Strauss Jr., a retired underground utility, bridge and marine contractor who rose from a construction laborer to contracting company executive, died of congestive heart failure Saturday at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 89. Born in Baltimore, Mr. Strauss was raised in Windsor Mill and at his grandmother's farm in Sticks, Pa. He attended Baltimore County public schools. "When he left school at an early age, his mother disapprovingly warned him he would never become anything more than a ditch digger," said a daughter, Carolyn A. Strauss of Randallstown.

Ever since the Fort McHenry Tunnel opened in 1985, motorists heading south on Interstate 95 have had to take an exit ramp to head that way. Staying on the main roadway would lead you to Interstate 895 and the Harbor Tunnel. After this weekend, no more. If the weather cooperates, the Maryland Transportation Authority will change the traffic pattern at the I-95/I-895 split Sunday morning so that the road to the Fort McHenry Tunnel becomes the default route. Travelers headed for the smaller Harbor Tunnel, opened in 1957 but only half as busy as its younger counterpart, will be the ones taking a right exit.

Hopkins shuttle shows how transit can succeed I hope everyone read the article on the success of the Johns Hopkins shuttle bus, which is reported to be reliable and is better than affordable since it's free for the Hopkins and Peabody community and, as the article suspects, many freeloading bounders as well ("Bus service picks up," Nov. 10). I hope readers see the moral of the story: Public transit that is well funded and efficient will be very popular. It is not hard to see why. An individual living in Charles Village going downtown would waste money profligately on parking lots if he persisted in driving.

Clarence J. "Sonny" Morsberger, a retired Westinghouse Electric Corp. inspector who enjoyed telling stories about life in Baltimore, died Saturday of prostate cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The longtime Morrell Park resident was 81. Mr. Morsberger was born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville, the son of a Prohibition-era bootlegger. "Dad spoke about big cars with secret compartments to transport liquor and gangs coming down from New York and federal agents," said his daughter, Susanne K. Morsberger, a Harbor Hospital pharmacist.

Two incidents - an oversize load that damaged the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and an accident at the Bay Bridge toll plaza - complicated traffic yesterday. About 8:30 last night, the top of a backhoe secured to a flatbed trailer being pulled by a dump truck struck the roof of the southbound tube of the tunnel, bringing down ceiling tiles and parts of their support structures, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. There were no injuries and no other vehicles were involved, Green said.

Fifty years ago, the infamous "Baltimore bottleneck" was unplugged. On the day after Thanksgiving in 1957, Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin opened the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. No more would motorists traveling between Washington and New York or Boston have to inch their way stoplight by stoplight - 51 by one account - through the streets of Baltimore. At the time there were no Beltway and no Interstate 95. The main routes through the city were U.S. 1 and U.S. 40. On a good day, a lucky driver might make the slog through town in 45 minutes.

The Fort McHenry Tunnel is a magnificent engineering achievement. It's the widest underwater tunnel in the world, and it carries more than 115,000 vehicles around Baltimore each day with admirable efficiency. And it's a stupid place to tailgate. Actually, there are no intelligent places to tailgate, but a busy tunnel is a particularly obnoxious place in which to attach yourself to the preceding vehicle's bumper. The same goes for other key transportation facilities such as the Harbor Tunnel, the Key Bridge and the Bay Bridge.