I 97

The State Highway Administration today begins construction work on Interstate 97 between the New Cut Road interchange and Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard as part of the project to widen I-97 between Route 3 and the Beltway.The work will lead to lane closings between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. tonight and tomorrow night along both the northbound and southbound lanes of I-97 to allow workers to move structural steel for the new Route 100 bridge over I-97.Motorists are advised to use Route 648 to Route 3 to avoid the construction area.

A truck overturned in an accident involving an Anne Arundel County police vehicle on southbound Interstate 97 near Route 100 on Saturday sent both drivers to the hospital, officials said. No injuries were listed in the accident report, but the driver of the truck was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center and the police officer to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center as a precautionary measure, county police Lt. Glenn Shanahan said. The accident, which is under investigation, blocked several lanes of traffic for about an hour until 4 p.m., officials said.

Maryland State Police were investigating a fatal motorcycle accident that closed lanes on Interstate 97 Tuesday afternoon. No further details were released pending notification of family members. A caller reported the incident about 2:23 p.m., saying a motorcycle had slid under a truck on I-97 between Crain Highway and Quarterfield Road, said Capt. Debbie Bowen, an Anne Arundel Fire Department spokeswoman. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, she said.

Traffic was easing on I-97 southbound near Route 32 in Anne Arundel County around 11 a.m., an hour after all were reopened in the wake of a fatal accident. Accidents also slowed traffic on Veterans Highway and Benfield Boulevard in Anne Arundel County, Route 32 eastbound near Sanner Road in Howard County, and I-95 northbound near Route 24 in Harford County. Monument Street is closed between Wolfe Street and Patterson Park Avenue in East Baltimore, due to sinkhole repairs. Maryland Transit Administration bus 35 has been diverted.

After more than two years of construction, congestion and flaring tempers, a third northbound lane on Interstate 97 will open tomorrow.The new lane will begin at Route 648, also known as Baltimore-Annapolis Road, and run north to Interstate 695 in northern Anne Arundel County, said Chuck Brown, a spokesman with the State Highway Administration."

Their basements have flooded, their swimming pools are filled with sand and silt, and their back yards are ruined. And the folks who live on Baylor Road in Glen Burnie say it's all the fault of the construction work on Interstate 97 at Quarterfield Road."

Motorists traveling north on Interstate 97 on Saturday can expect traffic to be tied in knots as road crews open three new lanes near Baltimore-Washington International Airport.Single northbound lanes of I-97 will be closed from just south of Route 100 to just north of Route 648 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. as crews move barriers and realign lanes. Southbound traffic in that area will not be affected.Chuck Brown, a State Highway Administration spokesman, said yesterday travelers should "allow yourself a good half-hour extra" for delays or avoid I-97 entirely by taking the Baltimore-Washington Parkway or Ritchie Highway.

MILLERSVILLE -- A 19-year-old Ellicott City man died yesterday after his northbound car crossed the median strip of Interstate 97 and crashed into two cars in the highway's southbound lanes, police said.Bryan James Mullane was driving on I-97, south of Benfield Boulevard, just before 7 a.m. when his 1986 Pontiac drifted onto the right shoulder and struck a guardrail, police said. That collision caused his right rear tire to go flat, and the car careened across the northbound lanes, through the grass median strip and into oncoming traffic in the southbound lanes, police said.

A Howard County man was killed Saturday when he was struck by a car after he stopped to examine flat tires on his vehicle on the shoulder of Interstate 97 near Millersville, state police said.Police said Eric Van Sutton, 25, of the 6200 block of Turnabout Lane, Columbia, had stopped on the shoulder of southbound I-97 near Benfield Boulevard about 3 a.m. to examine three flat tires on his car. They said he stepped into the road to flag down an oncoming 1998 Ford Taurus and was hit.Sutton suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Maryland State Police are investigating two fatal accidents along Interstate 97 within hours of one another. Investigators are trying to discover why an Easton man pulled his 2003 Dodge pickup truck onto the shoulder of Interstate 97 yesterday morning and stepped into the right travel lane about 9:30 a.m. Ryan Lee Murphy, 28, was struck by a State Highway Administration dump truck and killed. The truck driver was not charged, police said. Murphy, who carried no identification, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Tfc. Charles A. Harvey.

As of 9 a.m. Monday, traffic was slow on I-97 southbound near Crain Highway in Anne Arundel County, due to an accident. Accidents were slowing traffic on I-83 southbound near Belfast Road, Monroe Street and Frederick Avenue in Baltimore City, Clarksville Pike and Cedar Lane in Howard County, and Route 140 and Sullivan Avenue near Westminster. A disabled vehicle was slowing traffic on the inner loop of I-695 at Dulaney Valley Road in Baltimore County. Monument Street is closed between Wolfe Street and Patterson Park Avenue in East Baltimore due to sinkhole repairs.

The driver of a pickup truck failed to slow down for traffic on Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County and hit a 2000 black Honda Accord just before 4 p.m. Friday, killing the Honda's driver, according to Maryland State Police. He was identified by police Saturday as 49-year-old Stephen T. Patterson of Hampstead. The accident caused the southbound lanes of I-97 to be closed for three hours. Police said 29-year-old Daniel Martin Harris of Worton, who was driving a 2003 green Ford F-250, failed to slow down on the southbound side of the highway at the spur to eastbound U.S. Route 50 and collided with the Honda.

Maryland State Police believe a light-red bag full of a "large amount of cash" was lost somewhere along Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County and are asking for the public's help locating it. According to police, a man employed by a convenience store in Glen Burnie placed the bag, marked "7-11," on the roof of his sport utility vehicle about 5:45 a.m. Thursday. He then drove off, on his way to deposit the cash at a local bank, without remembering the bag was on the roof. Police believe the bag flew off the car somewhere along the northbound lanes of I-97 near where it passes under Route 100 in Glen Burnie.

All speed limits need periodic review ("State studies raising ICC speed limit," March 23). A rise from 55 to 60 mph on the uncontested, largely merge-free Inter-County Connector is certainly sensible. On the other hand, for the sake of safety and preservation of human life, the limit on I-97 between Annapolis and Baltimore should be reduced to 60 mph. That highway is the site of frequent serious crashes due to its congestion and various merges - and the too-high (65 mph) speed limit.

A Severn man died early yesterday when his van veered across the median of Interstate 97 in Crownsville and overturned in the northbound lanes.Police said Warren M. Sommerville, 55, of the 600 block of Queenstown Road was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the 1975 Chevrolet van in which he was the only occupant.He was southbound on the interstate near John Hanson Highway shortly before 3: 30 a.m.The accident prompted the closing of the northbound lanes for more than an hour, police said.

State police are investigating a single-vehicle accident that sent the driver to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and caused a three-mile backup on northbound Interstate 97 near Crownsville last night. A man was seriously injured after his Jeep overturned about 7:30 p.m. near the Farm Road overpass, said State Police Cpl. Marc Price of the Annapolis Barracks. The driver was flown by helicopter to Shock Trauma; his name and condition were not available. Price said police believe the man was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, which delayed many motorists heading home from the Eastern Shore.