Soccer Dad: Getting there in the sun

October 13, 2006

Getting there in the sun

Kudos to the Baltimore Sun for inaugurating the Getting There feature by reporter Michael Dresser.

As a first assignment he asks us for the worst interchanges in the Baltimore area.

Here are my candidates:

1) Eastbound I-70 approaching the Beltway. With two ramps to the inner loop and one to the outer loop starting from the same stretch of road the designers of the interchange ensure that if one or other side is backed up, all of 70 is backed up. Given that there are no exits from Route 29 until the Beltway, this can lead to 5 mile backups even if one side the Beltway is clear. The recent expanding of the ramps to the inner loop helps a little. However a backup to the inner loop still blocks the leftmost lane preventing vehicles from using the end of I-70 for a turnaround to avoid the backup.

UPDATE: I don't know if it's perception or reality but I have a feeling that backups appear more "suddenly" on the I-70 approach to the Beltway. It seems that the transition from highway speed to a crawl happens with less warning than at other choke points. Is that because the backups start at a location that is beyond the rise of a hill? Or is there some other explanation of the phenomenon (or maybe it's only a perception.) I have strong feelings about this given that I once was rearended as I had to come to a sudden stop a few years ago, and the guy behind me didn't.

2) The I-83 / I-695 section at the top of the Beltway. Maybe when it was built, it made sense to stagger I-83 and force its traffic onto the Beltway. Now it has the effect of combining two overcrowded highways at the worst possible times creating monster backups. Any chance of re-designing this to make I-83 continuous with a regular interchange with I-695 instead of this crazy "spur?"

3) The access ramp of I-70 onto Route 29. Because there are those coming from 70 on the right who want to go to Route 100 on the left, forcing traffic from 70 to cross two lanes of traffic to reach the exit for 100 in about a mile. This "weave" aggravates this section when the traffic is heavy. However, the construction here has worked and this merge isn't as bad as it used to be. One possible workaround to this problem is to mark the exit to 103 clearly as an alternate to Route 100, discouraging the crossroad weave.

In general my beef with Baltimore (real time) traffic reporting is that the Baltimore stations pay most attention to the area north of Baltimore and the Washington stations pay most attention to northern Virginia. Since my commute runs from NW Baltimore to Silver Spring, I feel underserved.

I have special frustration with WBAL, seemingly the Baltimore station with the greatest resources. For years, I've felt that their traffic reports run about 20 minutes behind any major incident. (And no I haven't seen any improvement in 15 years.)

WBAL has the capacity to improve its service by making cell calls easier. Yes they have a special number but that's for Verizon subscibers; not for Cingular - which I have - or for any other provider. If there's a direct number to call in if you don't have Verizon they don't announce it either.

A few weeks ago WBAL was reporting a westside backup starting at I-795. While the backup may well have started there, there was no backup between Liberty Road and I-70, but I couldn't call in to tell them.

I have more traffic gripes that I intend to share. But I don't have time now. Hopefully Mr. Dresser will find some of this useful.

Technorati tags: Traffic, Commuting, Baltimore Sun, WBAL.