Highway

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

A collision between a motorcycle and a car on the outerloop of Interstate 695 in Parkville late Saturday morning temporarily closed all outerloop lanes and sent the motorcyclist to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition, according to Maryland State Police. State troopers responded to the accident scene, near Perring Parkway, about 11:36 a.m. and found the motorcyclist seriously injured, police said. No one else was injured in the collision, police said. The motorcyclist was transported to Shock Trauma by a state police medevac helicopter, police said.

Maryland's highway chief says the speed cameras deployed in work zones around the state aren't generating enough fines to cover their operating costs. And he couldn't be more delighted. "It is worth our having to come up with additional money to cover the costs," State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen said Wednesday at a news conference to promote safe driving in work zones. Since the camera program began last fall, Pedersen said, his employees and contractors have noticed a decrease in the number of vehicles going more than 10 mph over the speed limit in work zones.

A portion of Broening Highway will be closed this weekend for utility construction work and motorists are urged to use alternate routes, the city transportation department said. The closure to through traffic will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, between Holabird Avenue and Dunhill Road with detours in effect. The roadway will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday. Local traffic will be allowed access to area businesses. The $27.1 million project, which will conclude in fall 2014, includes new lighting and upgraded traffic signals, repaving and reconfiguring the Keith Avenue ramp to accommodate two-way traffic.

Baltimore's demolition of the western end of the infamous "Highway to Nowhere" is a major step forward for the surrounding communities, but also marks the demise of a cautionary relic of Baltimore history ("The 'Highway to Nowhere' is now headed for the dump," Sept. 11). The road is an eerie and tragic sight to behold. Standing at the expressway's end is like glimpsing into a version of the future that never arrived. Six lanes that abruptly halt in mid-air, complete with exit signs and streetlights hanging above roadways that have never carried traffic.

NEW YORK - Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife escaped injury in a three-car accident on a New York City highway that killed one woman and injured a mail truck driver Friday. The accident happened about 1 p.m. as Brokaw was driving in the left lane of the northbound Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. The Brokaws said they noticed a spool of cable bouncing in the far right lane, which caused the driver of the green SUV to lose control as she tried to avoid it. The Brokaws said the SUV slid into the middle lane, forcing a mail truck into the couple's lane.

Gina Teresa Griffin, 51, was killed while riding a scooter on Interstate 95 late Thursday night, Maryland State Police said Saturday. Few details are available about the incident and the investigation continues, said Sgt. Jeff Kirschner, a State Police spokesman. According to police, a Honda Accord and a scooter with two riders were involved in a crash at 11:53 p.m. on the southbound side of the highway near the Baltimore Beltway interchange. The second person on the scooter, Victor Angelo Huntley, 47, is in critical but stable condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

It's hard to believe today but when Ritchie Highway was constructed some 60 years ago, only one blinking "control light" slowed a motorist traveling from Glen Burnie to the Severn River. One of the first stretches of that Depression-era dual-lane highway was constructed in Brooklyn Park, which was also the location of some of the area's earliest strip shopping centers. Even today, Brooklyn Park's stretch of Ritchie retains a 1950s time-capsule atmosphere.Perhaps not much longer, though.The north wing of the fortysomething Ritchie Highway Shopping Center got a much-needed make-over a year ago, giving it an inviting, modern appearance.

Wanda lifts a swollen hand to her face, scratches her nose and tells the eternal lie about quitting the heroin habit.Her eyelids are at half-mast, and her voice is the low grumble of the junkie as she talks about life on the street in the white glow of the Marylander Motel sign on Pulaski Highway."

In a lengthy article in last Sunday's Sun, staff writer Joe Nawrozki described the descent of Pulaski Highway, particularly around the Baltimore city-county line. In a scene resembling "a Third World country," one police official said, 80 to 100 prostitutes work a five-mile stretch of the road that's chock-a-block with no-tell motels. The hookers rounded up on Pulaski by police in recent months have included a grandmother, a mother-daughter team and a woman who was seven months pregnant; the johns have included locals, long-distance travelers and even a minister who told police he was just trying to spread the word of the Lord.

Three incidents on Baltimore-area highways, including a three-vehicle collision in Anne Arundel County that closed all westbound lanes on MD 100 at 8:33 a.m., disrupted Monday morning's rush hour, according to the state Department of Transportation. The collision in Anne Arundel County occurred on MD 100 West at Harmans Road, DOT said. In Baltimore City, a two-vehicle collision on Interstate 95 South at the 55.7 mile marker (toll plaza) has closed one of 12 southbound toll lanes at 8:32 a.m., DOT said.

A trailer that became separated from the vehicle pulling it smashed into a jersey wall along Interstate 83 North near Northern Parkway about 10:25 a.m., closing the highway in both directions, according to Baltimore Police. The trailer came to rest partially overturned in the left lane of the highway, police said. As of about 1:30 p.m. all lanes reopened with one northbound shoulder closed. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun

You might pass by 1352 Key Highway thinking it just another high-tech Inner Harbor office building. Slow down next time and take a good look at what might be one of the most unusual residences in Baltimore. The property, notable for its opaque glass exterior, is a show-stopper with five levels, four of which feature floor-to-ceiling windows. As one-half of a townhouse duplex built in 2009, the east-facing structure is constructed of stucco, metal, brick and, naturally, glass. "It shows like a model home.

Minutes after being pulled over by a state trooper on the side of Interstate 95 in White Marsh this week, 23-year-old Bel Air resident Scott Kampes was slumped over in the driver's seat of the car he was driving — fatally wounded from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, according to Maryland State Police. Police said the shot, from a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun found in Kampes' lap, was not heard by the two state troopers at the scene or by his uncle, who was also there.

The controversy over whether to change Maryland's three-year-old speed camera law arrived in Annapolis Tuesday, with some lawmakers calling for accountability and the State Highway Administration touting the value of its program. State Highway Administrator Melinda B. Peters said serious accidents in work zones have reached a 10-year low and only 2 percent of drivers are ticketed by the speed cameras. Peters told lawmakers it's necessary to have cameras operating in construction zones even when workers are not present — a practice some lawmakers have criticized — because the jersey barriers and irregular traffic patterns are a hazard.

Traffic in the Ruxton area of Baltimore County was disrupted on Thursday morning because of a water main problem, State Highway Administration officials said. SHA spokesman David Buck said that a water main problem along Old Court Road between Falls Road and Stone Mill Road forced the close of the westbound side of the road. Buck said that traffic is being alternated on the eastbound side. Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A female pedestrian was killed last night after she was struck by a truck while attempting to cross Pulaski Highway in White Marsh, Baltimore County police reported. The victim - whose name was not immediately released - was struck about 10 p.m. in the 11000 block of Pulaski near the Williamsburg Inn. She was pronounced dead at Franklin Square Hospital Center, police said.

Two highway workers under contract to the state were killed Wednesday morning along Pulaski Highway in Northeast when a car plowed into a marked construction zone, state police said. Investigators reported that around 9 a.m., a 2006 Ford Focus westbound on Pulaski Highway near Belvidere Road crossed into the work zone and struck the two workers. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene by Cecil County emergency medical staff. Police identified the victims as Luis E. Tadeo, 42, of the 1500-block of Palai Turn of Bowie, and Victor D. Jackson, 41, of the 5500-block of Hunt Place, NE in Washington.

A pedestrian who was killed on Pulaski Highway in Middle River on Saturday night has been identified as 60-year-old Dianna Rae Brooks, Baltimore County Police said Sunday. Brooks, who police said they have no fixed address for, was standing on the eastbound side of the highway (Route 40) near Holly Drive shortly before 7 p.m. when she was struck by a Ford F-150, police said. Brooks was pronounced dead while being transported to Franklin Square Hospital, police said. The driver of the Ford pickup truck, who has not been identified, remained at the scene, police said.