Kocher

Tara Collier, 18, has lived in the same West Baltimore house for 10 years, but she now fears she'll have trouble finding her way home.The Polytechnic Institute senior said she has taken the same route to the gym, to work, to school and everywhere else for her entire driving career. But because of a complete reconstruction of the Clifton Avenue Bridge, she will have to find new ways to get around.Demolition of the 72-year-old bridge, which is about 500 feet from the Collier home, began Monday, and will keep the road closed for 17 months.

Like many people who live in the Walbrook neighborhood, Bernice Johnson and Beverly Stewart say they're tired of rats and trash.They want the city's Department of Public Works to do something about it.City officials say they know rats are a problem in West Baltimore, but they've significantly reduced the number of vermin scurrying around from 750,000 to about 320,000.As for the trash, they say residents exacerbate the problem by not putting trash in garbage cans and by leaving it out when there's no scheduled pickup.

If the wind blows hard enough, the heavy red shingles atop the West Arlington Water Tower have been known to slip from their century-old settings and drop to the ground like shards of glass.The tower's roof has a gaping hole, and city records show little work has been done to maintain the beige brick structure since its construction from 1897 to 1899.That is until last week, when the Department of Public Works sent engineers to evaluate the 95-foot-tall tower, which has been unused since the 1930s.

The Mayor's Hampden Christmas Parade will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, necessitating the closing of Falls Road between Cold Spring Lane and 36th Street.Sponsored by community associations and businesses in the Hampden-Medfield neighborhoods in North Baltimore, the parade will begin at the Poly-Western High School complex, proceed south on Falls Road and turn east on 36th Street before dispersing along Chestnut Avenue. Information: Kurt Kocher, Department of Public Works, 410-396-5198.

A city traffic study at a Roland Park intersection described by some neighbors as dangerous shows evidence of minor speeding over the posted limit of 25 mph.Some residents fault the study because it was not conducted during peak rush hours.Kurt L. Kocher, spokesman for the Department of Public Works, said the study indicates westbound traffic at the intersection of Schenley Road and West Cold Spring Lane averages 30 mph, while eastbound traffic averages 28 mph.The study was done a week ago between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., Kocher said, with the speed of 200 vehicles -- 100 in each direction -- timed with a radar gun."

IF YOU live on Fallstaff Road where it intersects Clarks Lane in Cheswolde, consider yourself lucky.For less than one block, that road has been converted to a one-way street, a weird gerrymandering of traffic flow instituted in 1974 under a law adopted by the Baltimore City Council.Some residents of Fallstaff were perturbed about cut-through traffic traveling along their street. So they sought -- and got -- legislation in the form of an ordinance that thwarted the problem by making it illegal to turn west onto Fallstaff from Clarks.

A water main break during the weekend forced the closing of the intersection of Cedarcroft Road and Northwood Drive in Northeast Baltimore until the end of the week, a spokesman for the city Department of Public Works said.Kurt Kocher, the spokesman, said that the underground break was quickly repaired but it caused part of the intersection to collapse.Kocher said detour signs have been placed at the intersection to direct vehicles to other routes.Also yesterday, work began on a $1.4 million project to improve Homeland Avenue between Charles Street and York Road in North Baltimore, Kocher said.

The city Department of Public Works warned residents of Northeast Baltimore and neighboring Baltimore County yesterday of people posing as water inspectors, trying to get into their homes.Two incidents occurred last week in Gardenville in the city in which a man -- described as being in his 30s, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, medium build, brown hair, dressed in work clothes and carrying a clipboard -- knocked on doors, offering to test residents' water, said Kurt Kocher, a public works spokesman.

THE VIEW from Prettyboy Dam in northwest Baltimore County is sweeping and majestic.But don't look up for long.Intrepid advises all who pass through this area to watch the road -- and be especially careful when crossing the decrepit 64-year-old bridge that spans the dam.At the bridge, sidewalks have been neglected by the city Department of Public Works, which maintains the bridge because it crosses a major city watershed. In places, the walkways have crumbled.Rusted iron supports jut out and threaten ankles and even tires, and uneven sidewalks make for a treacherous walk if you brave a stroll onto the bridge to catch the vista.

WITH THIS summer's heat cranking up, it's hard to complain when a steady stream of cool water gushes onto city streets offering an oasis for tired toes.Except when the liquid has been spouting from a hydrant for more than a month.That's the situation at North Avenue and Howard Street, where commuters along one of Baltimore's main east-west drags have been subjected to a little splish-splash each day thanks to the leaking fireplug.It seems city Department of Public Works bureaucrats opened the North and Howard hydrant after the disastrous May 10 explosion of a 5-foot water main on Homewood Avenue.

This week, Watchdog brings you an update on a still-unresolved problem. Update:: Watchdog reported in July about the fountain in the middle of Druid Lake, which at the time had not been working for at least a month. The fountain had been featured in Watchdog in 2007, when a lightning strike blew out its electrical system. That came after a $700,000 renovation in 2004. And then this year, as the fountain turns 50, Reservoir Hill resident Michael Baseman once again noted the absence of the streaming water, which he particularly enjoyed at dusk or before sunrise, when illuminated by colored light.

A water main break reopened Wednesday at Falls Road and Northern Parkway in Baltimore, and repair work is likely to affect traffic in the area through the end of the week, according to public works officials. The break was initially found Tuesday on southbound Falls Road about 200 feet north of its intersection with Northern Parkway, according to city Department of Public Works spokesman Kurt Kocher. A clamp on the leak failed Wednesday morning, Kocher said. A portion of Falls Road south of Northern Parkway was being used as a staging area for construction equipment, causing southbound Falls Road traffic to be detoured onto westbound Northern Parkway, Kocher said.

Water has been restored to businesses and residences affected by a major water main break Sunday that caused extensive flooding in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, a Baltimore public works spokesman said. Residences, restaurants and offices that had lost water or had low pressure were set to be back at full strength by last night, spokesman Kurt Kocher said. Kocher recommended that people remove the aerators from their taps and turn on the water to flush out sediment that might have accumulated, although the water is safe to drink.

THE PROBLEM: The sole hydrant on a street has been out of service for more than six months. THE BACKSTORY : Roy L. Shover Sr. wrote an e-mail to "Watchdog" to prevent, as he put it, "a very possible tragic event." His mother lives on Unetta Street off Wilkens Avenue in Southwest Baltimore. Shover says that the hydrant on her block has had an "out of service" sign on it for at least half a year and that it's the only hydrant on that street. He found other hydrants in the neighborhood "quite a distance from her home."

The problem: A Tuscany-Canterbury sewer project has stretched more than two months past its originally posted completion date. The backstory: Carol Gamble lives in The Colonnade on University Parkway at Canterbury Road, one street east of Linkwood Road. Linkwood has been closed since April, when a construction project began. Originally a "Road Closed" sign there indicated that the project would be completed by July 14. However, as that date approached, the specific date disappeared from the sign, and work has continued until the present, more than two months since that original completion date.

Highway shut briefly as car burns; none hurt 1 The westbound lanes of a section of Route 32 in Howard County were closed briefly yesterday after a car caught fire, according to fire officials. The fire happened about 2:40 p.m. on Route 108 in Clarksville, said Howard County Fire and Rescue spokesman William Mould. The westbound lanes of Route 32 were shut down for about 30 minutes. No one was injured in the incident, Mould said. Tyeesha Dixon Opening delayed for Balto. Co. charter school 2 Baltimore County's first public charter school won't open today as originally planned, as organizers await a final inspection from the fire marshal for an occupancy permit, according to school officials.

THE PROBLEM Temporary above-ground pipes bringing water to Federal Hill homes during a water-main rehabilitation project are damaged by parking cars, leaving residents without water. THE BACKSTORY Sarah De Santis considers herself a typical Baltimore city resident, the kind that enjoys showering, making dinner, doing laundry, watering her plants and washing her hands. It has been harder to enjoy those simple pleasures in recent months as a water main rehabilitation project commenced in her Federal Hill neighborhood.

Water was restored last night to 30 homes and an elementary school in Rosedale in Eastern Baltimore County, after a water main break Monday afternoon in the 5200 block of Hazelwood Ave., a spokesman for the city's Department of Public Works said. While the break has been repaired and the water is flowing, traffic will continue to be detoured until the damaged roadway, near Daybreak Terrace, is replaced, said Kurt Kocher, the spokesman. Kocher said a break in a 12-inch water main caused water to gush onto the streets and resulted in a drop in water pressure in the homes and nearby McCormick Elementary School.

Work crews from Baltimore City and Baltimore County labored last night in eastern Baltimore County to repair breaks in a 12-inch water main and a sewer line several feet under it. Heavy traffic was detoured from the site, at Hazelwood Avenue and Daybreak Terrace, as water gushed from the break. Kurt L. Kocher, a spokesman for the city's Department of Public Works, said the water main would be repaired first and that water could be restored by this morning. "We're hoping for that before the sewage line is repaired," he said.

With the city's three reservoirs largely replenished by recent rain and snow, Baltimore water officials have shut down the flow of supplementary water from the Susequehanna River. The reservoir system was at almost 82 percent of capacity yeterday, up from a low of about 64 percent when the pumps on the Susquehanna near Deer Creek were first switched on in December. "We don't want to say the drought is totally over. But the situation we're facing now is vastly improved over what we were facing in December," said Kurt L. Kocher, spokesman for the city's Department of Public Works.