Harbor Tunnel

What do you do if you run out of gas in the middle of the Harbor Tunnel? This was the question posed to me by a Sun colleague, photographer Barbara Haddock-Taylor, who came distressingly close to experiencing that particular public humiliation. Fortunately, she had just enough fumes to make it to a gas station. More generally, what do you do when dismal automotive events occur at the worst possible places? Let us define "worst possible places" as busy traffic bottlenecks where a lack of shoulder space gives any motorist the potential to become a one-person traffic jam -- not to mention a serious hazard to oneself and others.

A van ran into the back of a box truck on the northbound approach to the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and erupted in flames yesterday afternoon, trapping a passenger as the driver stood next to the vehicle crying out for help. The passenger was badly burned and died at the scene, authorities said. The accident happened about 1:30 p.m. in right lane of Interstate 895, south of the toll plaza, when the 2005 Chevrolet van with Tennessee tags struck the rear of a 2004 Kenworth box truck, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

John Joseph Zimmerer Sr., a former Baltimore fire captain and retired commander of the Maryland Toll Facilities Police, died Thursday of lung cancer at his Essex home. He was 88. Mr. Zimmerer, the son of German immigrants, was born in Baltimore. He attended the former St. James Elementary School and graduated from Mount St. Joseph High School in 1937. He held jobs with several local breweries and worked a night shift handling mechanical parts at what became the Martin-Marietta Corp. before applying to the Baltimore Fire Department.

State isn't prepared to deal with disaster The Sun's article "Md. rated near top for disaster plans" (June 17) notes that "Maryland is one of 10 states considered to have sufficient plans to respond to disasters, the Homeland Security Department said." Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is quoted in the article as saying, "These results show that we are on the right track." But the governor should understand that "sufficient plans" do not come close to meaning we are on the right track. Disaster simulations in classrooms and on computers just don't cut it. Even the best-laid plans can go awry without a mock exercise that reflects a real-life emergency.

Investigating a tip that terrorists planned to blow up one of two tunnels running beneath Baltimore's harbor, authorities temporarily shut down Interstate 95 - the East Coast's major north-south artery - yesterday to aid the search for suspects. The threat, described by federal officials as specific but unsubstantiated, claimed that an Egyptian man living in the Baltimore area was plotting to drive a bomb-laden vehicle into one of the tunnels and detonate the explosives. At least six Egyptian terrorists planned to smuggle the explosives into the Port of Baltimore by ship, according to a tipster.

Terrorist threat or not, Lorraine Lewis of Baltimore was determined to get to her hair stylist in Laurel yesterday for her regular cut and curl. "No, no, no - I am not going to cancel this appointment," Lewis, 32, said as she waited in her Hyundai sedan on a ramp leading to the Fort McHenry Tunnel - desperate for some salon TLC. She was among thousands of motorists who found themselves stuck yesterday when the approaches to two of Baltimore Harbor's three...

Imagine inhaling fumes from thousands of cars and trucks that creep by your open door, eight hours a day, five days a week, year after year. It doesn't take much imagination for Robert Hart and Deborah Ness, toll collectors at the Harbor Tunnel. They've been doing just that for a decade. Their doctors say they're healthy. But they worry about long-term effects from the tailpipes that pass by at rates of up to 6,000 per hour. "Whatever is in the air, there's such a concentration because you have these huge trucks going through here," said Hart, 58, of Abingdon.

Police yesterday tentatively identified two people killed in a collision Wednesday on the Harbor Tunnel Thruway in Halethorpe. Dale Perillaux, 32, of Louisiana was the driver of a Freightliner tractor-trailer that collided with a recycling truck and burst into flames, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. Perillaux worked for Crossroad Transportation LLC based in New Orleans, police said. Aaron Beale, 47, of Baltimore is believed to have been the passenger in the International recycling truck who died in the crash, according to the Transportation Authority Police.

Snow showers and slick roads early yesterday morning caused numerous accidents in the area, snarled traffic and kept some children out of school. A weak system in the upper atmosphere, combined with northwest winds and moisture coming from the Great Lakes was just enough to cause the light snow, said Nikole Listemaa, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service. There was little to no accumulation, she said, but temperatures in the low to mid-20s helped create perfect conditions for icy roads.

Declaring that he has kept his promise to improve Maryland's transportation system, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. unveiled road projects totaling $143 million yesterday, including a long-awaited project to relieve gridlock in Harford County. The new projects bring the total allocated for road, transit and port projects next year to a little more than $4 billion. Previously announced projects include $1.5 billion for the Washington Metro and bus system, and $235 million for planning an east-west Baltimore transit line.