SHA to reconfigure I-70 to thwart racing
Sun photo/Algerina Perna
The State Highway Administration has announced plans to reconfigure travel patterns between the park-and-ride at the eastern terminus of Interstate 70 and the Beltway in an effort to slow traffic and deter illegal street racing on that stretch of highway.
The decision to rework that section of I-70, where low traffic volumes at night often attract racers and spectators, follows the June 21 crash in which two people were killed and two critically injured after a vehicle that had apparently been in a speed contest went out of control.
Killed were spectators Mary-Kathryn Michele Abernathy, 21, of Columbia, and Jonathan Robert Henderson, 20, of La Plata, Charles County
State highway officials will begin work Thursday to close one lane on the westbound stretch between the parking lot and the Beltway, where the crash took place. After that morning's rush hour crews will move barriers so that motorists entering from Ingleside Avenue will no longer have a clear lane but will have to merge into the westbound lane leading from the park-and-ride. Workers will also change pavement markings and install reflective barriers.
Officials said the change will significantly reduce the attractiveness of the site for street racing without impeding normal traffic flow. State highway officials said they worked closely with the Maryland State Police to decide which changes to make.
Comments
Those changes will be welcome. There should be more cameras along there as well. BTW, those are not skid marks in the photo, actually burnout tire marks. They are from acceleration, not from stopping. I love legal drag racing at a proper track but I abhor street racing.
Posted by: jb | July 30, 2009 6:59 AM
Symptom alleviated; problem exacerbated.
If they aren't doing it at that one spot anymore they'll do it somewhere else. For a large part of them the larger thrill is in finding and monitoring places to do the racing.
It's like squeezing a balloon.
Posted by: MrRational | July 30, 2009 7:31 AM
This is very unfair to the daily commuters who uses that section on Rt.70.
I use it every day to travel home at the end of my work day. It's very ironic
that the East bound lane of the same area is a favorite set up for speed traps
used by Maryland State Police during the day but they fail to properly patrol
the West bound lane at night knowing full well there is street racing going on.
Posted by: Jim Ross | July 30, 2009 7:51 AM
As most know, that open stretch is only there because I-70 was going to continue into Baltimore until Barbara Mikulski succeeded in getting that portion cancelled. While keeping the park and ride may be convenient, I think the only real solution to this problem, as well as the problem of congestion from the single lane off ramps to I-695, is to rethink the entire area just west of I-695 to the park and ride. Perhaps building a replacement interchange that is designed with the current terminus in mind, and simply having a single lane to the park and ride, or even moving the park and ride closer to the beltway would work. Of course, all of this would require a significant amount of funding, but how do you put a price on the lives that were lost?
Posted by: Stephen Grall | July 30, 2009 12:10 PM
What a horrendous screw up by SHA officials. Now you have traffic from the local offices backing all the way up parallel drive with an estimated 10 Minute wait time to merge!
What a disaster, this better be temporary. The first day of this was a complete mess.
Get ready for lots of fender benders!
Oh, and now as soon as that 1 lane opens up into 3 you're gonna have the masses tearing out of there like never before, so problem solved!??
Posted by: Dt | July 31, 2009 10:01 AM
Without impeding normal traffic flow? That's laughable. It was a cluster of a mess yesterday afternoon during the rush hour. Lots of Social Security workers use that stretch to access 70 and 695 when leaving work.
Typical reactionary crap. Why not have police increase patrols here late at night when they know the drag racing occurs, or install some rumble strips instead of messing up the entire road for commuters?
Posted by: angry | July 31, 2009 10:09 AM
When they were making this evaluation did the realize what goes on between the hours of 2:30 thru 6:30 or did they show one weekend afternoon. How do these people get these jobs.
Posted by: Bill | July 31, 2009 4:22 PM
Well if the City had completed I-70 to downtown Baltimore in the 70's, we wouldn't even be talking about any of this.The State spent more money knocking down the ramps to no where at I-95/Caton Avenue (they would have connected to I-70), then it did to build the ramps in the 70's. Then they had a party at the tax payers expense to celebrate knocking them down. REAL Genuises running this State.
Posted by: rob | August 1, 2009 10:18 PM
SHA needs more help than road changes to stop illegal street racing. We all know this. We all know that illegal street racing has been around for decades yet every attempt to stop it has been foolish at best. Place a roadblock there and the racers will go to a different place. It is for this reason why I support an organization entitled Evo Street Racers as they represent the only significant movement attempting to reastically reduce the activity.
Posted by: Richie Anderson | August 5, 2009 4:41 PM