Traffic

It's no mystery that the crossroads of Routes 1 and 24 in Bel Air is a traffic tangle, so it's perfectly reasonable that the Bel Air town government would want to spend at least a portion of an unexpected $200,000 highway windfall on a study of the intersection. When it comes down to doing the study, though, figuring out what's wrong isn't really the issue. Figuring out how to disperse traffic at busy times of day is going to be the part that, if someone can figure out, is worth spending a fair amount of money on. There's no reason, however, to expect a good resolution to the difficult problem at hand.

After earlier incidents on interstates in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, area traffic moved without incident-related lane closures at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the state Department of Transportation. The Maryland Transit Administration is reporting minor delays on the Metro subway and light rail at 8:30 a.m. Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

The average air traffic controller works 230 days a year and does a flawless job ("Sequester disrupts airline passengers," April 23). There have been no major airlines crashes in nearly a decade. The average member of Congress, on the other hand, works barely 120 days a year and doesn't do his or her job at all. There have been no proper federal budgets passed in recent years, and as a result we now have the "sequester. " Which raises an interesting question: Why have the sequester-mandated cuts ended up laying off the air traffic controllers, who do their jobs, instead of members of Congress, who don't?

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.

A collision involving three cars has shut down a northbound lane of I-95, closing off some access to the ramp of 395 into Baltimore City. In Baltimore County, an accident on Harford Road shut down one shoulder of the outer loop. Emergency roadwork is taking place on southbound Maryland 424 in Anne Arundel County at Underwood Road, shutting down one lane and one shoulder, and redirecting traffic. Also, in Anne Arundel County, debris in the roadway was reported on I-695 at exit 8, near Nursery Road.

There are two key questions that need to be asked about the proposal in Bel Air to close Office Street to vehicular traffic, turning it into a kind of pedestrian plaza near the Harford County Courthouse. They are: • Why doesn't the proposal also include closing the block of Courtland Street on the other side of the Courthouse to vehicular traffic? • And why didn't someone think of this before? The subject was broached because the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners is working on plans to replace the brick sidewalks along Office Street next to the Courthouse, and make some other upgrades in the area including planting some shrubs.

A disabled vehicle closed a shoulder on the inner loop of I-695 at Wilkens Avenue at 9:04 a.m. Thursday, according to the state Department of Tranportation In Harford County, DOT reported a two-vehicle crash shut a shoulder around 7:39 a.m. on southbound I-95 past the exit for Route 152. Minor morning delays were reported on the subway during the rush hour and commuter buses were on time, according to the Maryland Transit Administration....

An emergency drill at the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration is likely to cause traffic delays Friday near Security Boulevard and Woodlawn Drive. Most employees from the Security West building will be evacuated from the facilities during the drill. The public is encouraged to take a different route to avoid delays. The drill will take place in the afternoon, but Social Security declined to announce a specific time. The exercise is required in accordance with federal, state and local requirements to prepare employees for any future threats they may encounter.

Emergency roadwork in Harford County on North Union Avenue east and west at Congress Avenue has closed all eastbound traffic at 8:42 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation. DOT also reported a collision in Baltimore County on the inner loop of Interstate 695 at the Interstate 95 exit at 8:58 a.m., but offered no additional information. Morning long delays on the Metro subway continued through 9 a.m., according to the Maryland Transit Administration. Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

The Baltimore region had the 17th worst traffic in the nation in 2012, according to INRIX, a leading provider of traffic data. The average driver spent 25.7 hours last year locking bumpers with fellow commuters, the sixth annual survey showed. The region did not place a single road in the top 100 for congestion. Los Angeles led the way, with 51 hours of wasted travel time; Washington was ninth, with 41 hours. Nationwide, traffic dropped 22 percent in 2012, the second consecutive year of decline, INRIX reported.