Interstate

An unidentified man was fatally struck by a car on the Baltimore Beltway Thursday night, Maryland State Police said. The man was walking at the inner loop of I-695 near the Interstate 95 exchange at about 10:10 p.m. when he was struck by a car, according to police. Police said the driver stopped after hitting the victim. Police had no further details about the incident. Sign up for Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A disabled vehicle in Baltimore City on Interstate 95 South/North at Bore 1 of the Fort McHenry Tunnel has closed one of four southbound tunnel lanes at 8:48 a.m. The Maryland Transit Administration reported minor delays on the MARC train at 9 a.m.

A man was critically injured in Laurel on Friday morning when his car veered off Interstate 95 and crashed into the rear of a parked tractor trailer, Maryland State Police said. According to State Police Sgt. Anthony Riley, the driver was traveling northbound when his vehicle left the road, drifted onto the shoulder and struck the tractor trailer, which was parked on the shoulder. The driver's vehicle became trapped underneath the tractor trailer; fire and rescue officials removed the motorist from the vehicle with the Jaws of Life hydraulic rescue tool, Riley said.

Separate incidents on Baltimore-area interstates forced lane closures at the close of Monday's rush hour, according to the state Department of Transportation. In Baltimore City, debris in the roadway on the inner loop of Interstate 695 at the Francis Scott Key Bridge closed one of two traffic lanes at 9:06 a.m., DOT said. A collision in Baltimore County on Interstate 95 South at the Baltimore Beltway exit has closed one of two southbound shoulders at 8:49 a.m., DOT said. Morning-long minor delays on the Metro subway, light rail and MARC train continued at 9:15 a.m., according to the Maryland Transit Administration.

Cars leaving Baltimore via the Jones Falls Expressway experienced significant delays early Monday morning as fire and police crews worked to clear a car fire. The fire was in the northbound lanes of Interstate 83 near Guilford Avenue. The lanes were back open as of about 2:30 a.m. The southbound lanes near 28th Street were also temporarily shut down by police after the Ravens' Super Bowl victory Sunday night because of congestion downtown, but were reopened by 2 a.m. Many motorists leaving the city after watching the Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers found themselves slowed to a crawl as traffic backed up.

Baltimore police have identified a woman who died in a motorcycle crash Sunday night on Interstate 83. Sheryl Anne Robinson, 40, lost control of her motorcycle south of Penn Station and hit the roadway's right wall about 5:35 p.m., a police spokesman said Sunday. The roadway was closed from Fayette Street to Penn Station for about four hours during an inquiry, he said. - Liz F. Kay

One person died in a three-vehicle accident on Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County Friday afternoon, police said. Just before 4 p.m., the crash occurred on the southbound side of the highway at the spur to eastbound U.S. Route 50, according to Maryland State Police. The crash is being investigated by officers from the Glen Burnie Barracks, who had not made any details about the accident's cause available by 10 p.m. The accident caused traffic on the two highways to back up for miles until the early evening.

Traffic backed up on Interstate 95 northbound just past the Hanover Street exit on Thursday after a truck spilled about 50 gallons of gasoline on the roadway, a city fire spokesman said. The spill caused the two right lanes of the interstate to be closed, said a spokesman with the Maryland Transportation Authority, which maintains the section of the interstate where the spill occurred. City fire personnel responded to the spill after receiving a call at about 11:45 a.m., said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the fire spokesman.

A Baltimore County man died late Friday after he was involved in a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of Interstate 83 and Interstate 695 in Towson, officials said. Robert Lawrance Britt, 45, was pronounced dead after the 11:23 p.m. accident. A preliminary investigation shows alcohol was not a factor, officials said. The accident closed the beltway for about 30 minutes. Britt drove off the ramp on southbound I-83 through the triangular grassy area and continued onto the highway, where his 2006 Ford pickup track was struck by a tractor trailer and a Dodge Neon, officials said.

Fallen tree branches were blocking the right lane on southbound Interstate 83 just past Cold Spring Lane, according to Baltimore police. Traffic was being diverted into other lanes due to the debris.

Five people were taken to the hospital after they were injured in a crash on Interstate 95 on Sunday night involving multiple cars, Baltimore County Fire Department officials said. The crash happened about 9 p.m. on southbound I-95 near the exit for I-195, officials said. One person was critically injured, two people were seriously injured and two people had minor injuries, the fire department said. The University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center was at capacity, fire officials said, so patients were taken elsewhere.

A man was killed after speeding through evening rush-hour traffic on a motorcycle Wednesday on Interstate 95 near the Baltimore northern city/county line, Maryland Transportation Authority officials said. The man was racing with another motorcyclist about 6:30 p.m., and witnesses said the two were performing wheelies as they sped along, an MdTA spokesman said. The man struck a Buick and was badly injured in the crash, while the other motorcyclist left the scene. The man has not been identified pending notification of his next of kin. He was medevaced to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.

A Baltimore city employee was killed Tuesday afternoon after a man veered off an interstate and sped onto downtown streets, flipping the car he was driving in front of City Hall, according to police and the victim's family. Matthew Hersl, an employee of 28 years who worked in the finance department and was an avid Orioles fan, was struck and taken to Maryland Shock Trauma center, where he was pronounced dead. A Maryland State trooper first encountered the driver on Interstate 83 when the driver flew up behind him at speeds that may have exceed 100 miles per hour, according to Sgt. Marc Black, a department spokesman.

The state Department of Transportation reported a collision on the inner loop of Interstate 695 prior to Exit 16 (Interstate 70) in Baltimore County at 9:10 a.m. A three-vehicle collision on the inner loop of Interstate 695 prior to Exit 16 (Interstate 70) in Baltimore County hampered traffic toward the end of the morning rush hour, according to the state Department of Education. The crash closed one of four inner loop traffic lanes and one of two inner loop shoulders at 9:15 a.m., DOT said.

Traffic in downtown Baltimore was being effected Wednesday morning by Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. crews blocking lanes of S. Charles Street between Pratt and Lombard streets for emergency repairs to a 12-inch-wide gas main, according to Rachael Lighty, a company spokeswoman. Lane closures will be in effect "until the work is complete," Lighty said. No estimate for when that will occur was given. Also Wednesday morning, a two-vehicle collision on Interstate 95 in Howard County, prior to Route 175, had closed one lane and the right-hand shoulder as of 8:30 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.

An accident involving four vehicles on Interstate 695 near Camp Meade Road north of Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport in Anne Arundel County had closed one inner loop lane and the righthand shoulder as of about 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. The department had also earlier reported an accident on Interstate 95 at Exit 80 (MD 543/Creswell Road) around 7 a.m. Tuesday. No additional details were given. In Frederick County, a disabled vehicle on Interstate 70 at Exit 42 (MD 17/Myersville Road)

Two lanes of northbound Interstate 95 have reopened in Harford County while crews clean up a tractor-trailer crash early Tuesday morning that injured one driver, according to Maryland State Police. The crash of two tractor-trailers was reported at about 2:30 a.m. about two miles north of the Churchville Road exit, state police said. One driver was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in serious but stable condition. I-95 was shut down at 3 a.m. Northbound drivers were directed onto Route 40 via exit 80 until about 8 a.m., police said.

"Interstate," by Stephen Dixon. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 374 pages. $25Shortly after you read this, you're probably going to hear that Stephen Dixon's remarkable new novel "Interstate" is "experimental" in form, and this will probably put you off, as it should, since an investment of $25 and several hours worth of serious reading time entitles you to something more than an experiment. You shouldn't be put off; "Interstate" is not experimental but a work that reads as if Mr. Dixon had used such radical techniques his entire literary (this is 17th book)

An accident that killed a pedestrian along Security Boulevard in Baltimore County early Tuesday has closed the roadway between Kernan Drive and Robert Myers Boulevard and caused major traffic delays, according to Baltimore County Police. The man was struck by a vehicle in the westbound lanes of Security Boulevard while trying to cross the roadway shortly before 5:30 a.m., said Cpl. John Wachter, a police spokesman. The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene, Wachter said.