Traffic Flow

Traffic flow on the I-695 west of Baltimore has resumed after a rush-hour accident closed at least two lanes of traffic on the highway's Outer Loop and prompted the hospitalization of one person, a Maryland State Police dispatcher said. The crash, near the intersection of I-70, was called in at 8:02 a.m. and involved a Toyota sedan and a Ford truck, the dispatcher said. The injured person was taken to Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore for treatment.

The Sun ("A silver lining," April 12) and Sen. Jim Rosapepe ("Put transportation to voters," April 12) turn a blind eye to the truth about the true cause of shortfalls in the state's Transportation Trust Fund. Marylanders do not believe their false claims that a higher sales tax or gas tax will reduce traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is caused by too many cars and too little traffic flow, either from accidents or lane closures. The Sun would have you believe that the poor do not have cars and that the middle class, a group that seems to be everyday growing in definition, can absorb any tax dreamed by this administration.

Related to the reply to my letter ("Yield to left at roundabout and to right at four-way stop," Catonsville Times, Jan. 4), I did not realize that drivers do not need to be courteous when using traffic circles. That writer's self-centered mentality would keep us "poor saps" stranded at one of other entrances to the circle when there is an unbroken queue of vehicles in one direction. This "poor sap," having learned the written rules for drivers approaching an intersection (with no stop signs or all direction stop signs)

There were 23 fatalities on Harford County highways in 2011, a slight decrease from the previous year, but still too many, according to local police. They're hoping a new countywide task force will prevent at least some fatal accidents. "None of us want to experience the loss of a loved one or cause the loss of a loved one because of one careless moment in a motor vehicle that could have been avoided," Lt. Charles Moore, commander of the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack, said Monday.

Water woes in the area were noted in an article in the Sept. 2, 1911, edition of The Argus, which reported that storms had slowed progress on a busy Catonsville street. The heavy rains during the week have played havoc with the improvements of Newburg avenue, which is now in progress. Several weeks ago, the County Highways Commission regraded the avenue, and in order to conform with the roadbed, the Baltimore County Water and Electric Company was obliged to lower their water mains, causing a muddy condition of the road on the side, while the digging up of the avenue in the centre by the county has caused it to be almost impassable.

Route 140 traffic through Westminster is flowing better because of a computerized signal system the county has been using for about two months.The "intelligent" transportation system monitors traffic on the highway from Sullivan Road to Route 97, a stretch that has six intersections with signals."

The State Highway Administration has announced plans to reconfigure traffic patterns between the park-and-ride lot at the eastern terminus of Interstate 70 and the Beltway to slow vehicles and deter illegal street racing. The decision to rework that section of I-70, where low traffic volume at night often attracts racers and spectators, comes on the heels of a crash June 21 in which two people were killed and two critically injured after a vehicle that had apparently been racing went out of control and left the road.

GLEN BURNIE -- The State Highway Administration will begin closing and shifting lanes along southbound Interstate 97 Sunday from the Beltway to Route 648 to accommodate construction work in that area.Crews will start closing lanes at 7 a.m. Sunday to shift southbound traffic to a one-mile stretch of newly built highway by 6 a.m. Monday, weather permitting. Traffic using Route 648 ramps to and from southbound I-97, and traffic getting onto southbound I-97 from the Beltway and I-895, may be delayed.

Funeral processions for law enforcement officers are an outpouring of respect, but can be a traffic nightmare for other drivers. And while the state police do their best to alert motorists with highway message boards and the like, there should be some other way to ensure both a respectful escort for an officer or firefighter killed in the line of duty and safe and speedy passage for highway travelers. Part of the problem, as evidenced by recent complaints to Baltimore Sun columnist Michael Dresser, is that police escorts aren't limited to funerals of law enforcement officers.

Carroll commissioners gave their go-ahead yesterday for the county and State Highway Administration to begin working on plans to improve traffic flow on a stretch of heavily traveled Liberty Road. "They want to get started, and we obviously want to get started, too," Steven Horn, Carroll's director of planning, told the three commissioners. The state has decided to divide the road work into two sections: the first from Liberty Reservoir east of Route 32 toward Baltimore County; the second from Route 32 west toward Route 97, according to an outline of the plan by Parker F. Williams, state highways administrator.

Related to the reply to my letter ("Yield to left at roundabout and to right at four-way stop," Catonsville Times, Jan. 4), I did not realize that drivers do not need to be courteous when using traffic circles. That writer's self-centered mentality would keep us "poor saps" stranded at one of other entrances to the circle when there is an unbroken queue of vehicles in one direction. This "poor sap," having learned the written rules for drivers approaching an intersection (with no stop signs or all direction stop signs)

I am writing in response to the Dec. 28 letter regarding the traffic circle on Edmondson Avenue and Old Frederick Road ("Too much speed and too little courtesy at Old Frederick circle," Catonsville Times). According to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration website, "Approach roads to roundabouts are controlled by yield signs. Entering traffic must always yield to traffic already in the roundabout. Cautiously approach the yield line and wait for an acceptable gap in traffic.

The letter in the Dec. 28 Catonsville Times about traffic at the Old Frederick Road circle ("Too little speed and too little courtesy at Old Frederick circle,") indicates the confusion drivers have with traffic circles. The signs say to yield to traffic in the circle. Unless I'm mistaken, that means always yielding to your left because that is the direction of the traffic flow. When I approach the circle, I yield to my left and follow after the last car to my left or when an opening occurs to my left.

I have no problem with a senior residence on the Y property ("Senior residence facility proposed for Y's property," Catonsville Times, Nov. 2). However, before this happens there needs to be a traffic signal at the entrance as well as a turn lane. I have watched my parents grow older and more frail in their driving. I can imagine older drivers attempting to make a left turn into or out of the driveway without a traffic light. I don't want to read about accidents (and deaths)

Wendell Cox's recent commentary dismissing transit as an efficient means of commuter travel displays a typically car-centric and myopic view of public transportation ("Before increasing taxes, increase trust," Oct. 12). It also offers conflicting statistics and draws questionable conclusions. Mr. Cox says people do not use transit because it fails to reduce transit times and because fewer than 10 percent of jobs in the area can be reached by transit within 45 minutes. Yet the average car commute in Maryland is already 45 minutes.

As of 9 a.m., traffic was slow on I-95 south at Kane Street, due to an accident involving two vehicles. Accidents were slowing traffic on I-95 north at the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore City; at Routes 147 and 152 in Harford County, Holabird Avenue at Delvale Avenue in Dundalk; and Broken Land Parkway and Snowden River Parkway in Columbia. Traffic was blocked in the 2800 block of Mohawk Ave. in Northwest Baltimore, where crews have been fighting a fire. Debris in the roadway was interfering with the traffic flow on the inner loop of the Baltimore Beltway at Security Boulevard.

County planners unveiled yesterday an addition to their blueprint for road systems in and near Westminster, proposing that portions of road in a subdivision in the north end of the city be linked to create smoother traffic flow on and near area highways. Planners told the county commissioners yesterday that Lemmon Road, which stops to make abrupt turns onto other roads at two points in the Windy Hills Farms subdivision, should be made continuous to lessen the potential for accidents. The road could then be expected to better handle traffic to and from Route 97. Besides that proposal, only minor revisions were made to the planners' transportation plan for the county seat.

CITY OFFICIALS are considering the biggest change in downtown traffic flow since the 1950s, when the controversial Henry Barnes unsnarled chronic peak-hour congestion by setting up a system of one-way streets.Under a proposal from the University of Maryland's downtown Baltimore campus, northbound Paca Street would be reversed to southbound, Eutaw Street would change from its current two-way flow to one-way northbound, and southbound Greene Street would become two-way. Westbound Lombard Street also would become two-way near the UMAB campus.

Water woes in the area were noted in an article in the Sept. 2, 1911, edition of The Argus, which reported that storms had slowed progress on a busy Catonsville street. The heavy rains during the week have played havoc with the improvements of Newburg avenue, which is now in progress. Several weeks ago, the County Highways Commission regraded the avenue, and in order to conform with the roadbed, the Baltimore County Water and Electric Company was obliged to lower their water mains, causing a muddy condition of the road on the side, while the digging up of the avenue in the centre by the county has caused it to be almost impassable.

The State Highway Administration is taking another crack at the Towson roundabout — aiming to improve safety and traffic flow at an intersection that has bedeviled engineers for decades. The agency said it will launch a $632,000 project at the roundabout in the heart of the downtown area Tuesday, requiring a series of lane closings that will continue through late summer. The SHA said this round of work, unlike previous projects, is not intended to fix something wrong but to make permanent some of the changes it got right in 2008.