Ramp

A tanker truck overturned yesterday on a ramp leading from southbound Interstate 95 to eastbound Route 198 in Laurel, spilling gasoline onto the roadway and delaying traffic for several hours while work crews cleaned up the spill. State police Sgt. Herman Bethel of the College Park barracks said the tanker's driver, whose name was not released, suffered minor injuries and was treated at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly. Bethel said the tanker was on the ramp about 3:25 p.m. when for an unknown reason the rig left the roadway and fell onto its right side.

A pickup truck overturned on a ramp leading from Interstate 70 to Route 32 about a mile south of West Friendship last night, killing one man and trapping another, state police reported.Sgt. Dan Austin of the Waterloo barracks said a 1993 Ford truck occupied by two men went out of control on the ramp from westbound I-70 to northbound Route 32 about 9: 40 p.m., crashed through a guardrail and tumbled down an embankment.Austin said one occupant was pronounced dead at the scene and that Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue units worked for almost two hours to free the man trapped inside the truck.

A Baltimore County teenager was killed after veering off the ramp from southbound Interstate 83 to the Baltimore Beltway westbound near Lutherville, according to Maryland State Police. Kwest T. Logan, 17, of the 200 block of Lord Byron Lane in Cockeysville, was found dead about 10 a.m. Monday, shortly after police responded to a report of a possible vehicle in the woods near the exit ramp. A motorist called police after noticing light reflecting off the car while driving in slow-moving traffic this morning, police said.

The ramp from southbound Hanover Street to southbound Interstate 95 remained closed yesterday evening and likely will be closed this morning while engineers repair damage from yesterday's early-morning tanker fire, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority police. The South Baltimore bridge was shut down about 3 a.m. after a tanker-truck overturned on the ramp, leading to traffic delays forcing the Maryland Transit Administration to temporarily shut down the Camden MARC train line between Baltimore and Washington.

After 14 years of empty promises from the original developer, residents of a Pasadena waterfront community are taking it upon themselves to build a boat ramp for the neighborhood.Members of the Elizabeth Landing Community Association Inc. have asked the Army Corps of Engineers for permission to build an 84-foot, L-shaped pier and a private boat ramp off Elizabeth Landing Way on Stoney Creek."There certainly is a need," said Clara Bereston, an Annapolis lawyer representing the civic group.

The way from Route 24 to U.S. 40 is about to change. And the way from U.S. 40 to Route 24 is changing, too.A new ramp for motorists traveling from one highway to the other will open later this month.No longer will motorists on Route 24 be required to drive to Edgewood Road to hook up with U.S. 40.Instead, they'll drive down a four-lane ramp connecting U.S. 40 and Route 24 near where Route 24 crosses Otter Creek.Motorists turning off Route 24 and onto the ramp -- there will be a new traffic signal erected -- will be able to go west to Joppatowne or east to Aberdeen.

If the weather has behaved, drivers should see a new ramp from northbound Interstate 95 to Interstate 695 in White Marsh today. The Maryland Transportation Authority planned to close lanes along I-95 and I-695 last night through this morning to open the ramp. Signs notified the 19,000 motorists who use that interchange daily about the new ramp, which exits I-95 from the right lane and enters I-695 from the right. The old ramp, constructed 45 years ago, had drivers exit I-95 and enter I-695 from the left.

Jerry Herson and his neighbors are still at odds.Herson, who owns Pleasure Marine Center in the 1700 block of Poplar Ridge Road, has run into stiff opposition from representatives of community associations, who continue to resist his plan to build ramp access to Perry Cove off Main Creek.First, he offered to move the ramps from the cove into the creek. Then, he reduced the number of ramps from five to one, though the single ramp would have been wide enough to accommodate six boats at a time.

A tanker truck hauling gasoline overturned and exploded last night as it entered Interstate 83 from the Beltway, killing the driver, forcing Riderwood residents from their homes and filling North Baltimore with smoke.The truck crashed about 8 p.m. as it entered the northbound ramp of I-83 from the eastbound Inner Loop lanes of Interstate 695 near the 8200 block of Jeffers Circle in Riderwood, Baltimore County fire officials said.The driver's name was not released; no one else was hurt in the accident.

OAKLAND -- Judging a ramp cook-off isn't easy. Are traditional recipes best, or should points be given for originality in cooking the pungent plant? Does the dish taste of ramps without being too rampy? Judge Kevin Dodge kept all that in mind as he tasted Tom Carr's venison-and-ramp soup at the Third Annual Ramp Cook-Off in Swallow Falls State Park. But his most important consideration was the taste. "Hmm," said Dodge, a wildlife professor at Garrett College in McHenry, as he dipped his plastic spoon into the small foam cup containing the soup.