I would say that I-70 going onto 695 north is one of thworst, although I'm lucky enough to live in the city and only drive occasionally. I sat in traffic for an hour last Thursday night as part of a 3 hour drive from Hagerstown back to Baltimore. The backup went all the way from the beltway (and presumably well onto the beltway) back to the intersection of 70 and rt 29. What was even better was the traffic advisory board several miles before that was...blank. Very helpful in telling motorists about the congestion. And MDOT was telling WTOP news that there wasn't even any congestion there! When the department of TRANSPORTATION doesn't know about a multi-mile backup, it's small wonder Baltimore's traffic keeps getting worse.

Bottom of 83 going into/out of the City - just terrible.

Every morning I drive from Perry Hall to Woodlawn and back in the evening. I hit the Harford Rd, Cromwell Bridge, York Rd, 795, and the tail end sometimes of the 70 traffic. I just love sitting in my car 2+ hours a day, but a job is a job...

Northbound 95 at the beltway

695 - 83 interchange is always a mess

and bel air down to white marsh

I get on the Beltway off of Route 1 and drive 3 miles to Frederick Road. It routinely takes me 30 minutes to drive these three miles.

Workday PM: 95 North of 195, especially approach up to the Exit for 695 West toward 70...what were people thinking with a left exit there on 95! Backs up for miles some days, slowing down entire 95 Northbound.

I take 83 South into to Baltimore every morning. Traffic on 83 gets worse every year and this year it is absolutey its worst. It's a joke.

Mr. Dresser,
Although I am currently unemployed, I have know about both of these bottlenecks for years. If I find myself driving during rush hour approaching the I-695/Harford Road area or the I-70 interchange, I will go to great lengths to avoid them. My question to you is: Given that these bottlenecks are by no means new, what plan(s) does the SHA have to improve traffic flow in these areas? I realize we are in difficult times (with respect to the highway projects' budget), but even a plan or ideas from the SHA would give us all something to look forward to.

Southbd St. Paul at Mt Royal, where I-83 traffic comes on. It's not the worst for volume (like the beltway) but is bad in terms of stupid planning. There used to be adequate lanes there, but the City, to give about 4 parking spaces to Mount Vernon residents, blocked the right lane of St. Paul. Now, 2 lanes of St. Paul and 1 lane from 83 have to merge. There is no longer a dedicated lane for buses, nor is there a lane for cars to move over and turn right at Preston to continue to 395 and 95. This was a recent change, within the last 6 months or so, and immediately caused dramatic delays.

Northbound I-95 from Howard County into Baltimore, especially around 695 where there is a horrible left exit and traffic backs up all the way to MD-100 sometimes.

West side, outer loop of 695 in the morning. The trouble is always that S-loop at the Route 40 and Edmonson Ave exits. Traffic always opens up as soon as you pass the Catonsville (Frederick Road) exit...for no good reason. You're well after I-70 and well before I-95, so there should be no major fluctuations in the amount of cars getting on or getting off of 695 at that point. And it has nothing to do with the sun moving from the left of traffic to head-on because the sun is in the same position after you go past the Frederick Road exit and traffic is juts fine there.

695 East by York Rd. exits. The worst, especially with drivers flying down the exit ramp and then pulling in front of cars that are sitting in traffic.

295 South @ 695 junction is usually terrible...There is not enough space to merge and usually backs up traffic for atleast a half mile in the left lane.

Hard to beat 70 hitting 695. It used to be bad some of the time. Then they fixed it and now it's bad all the time and horrendous some of the time. Also, not really a bottleneck but the congestion-by-design of MLK Blvd and it's deliberately traffic-clogging traffic lights should be on some list.

Mike: I have written to you before. I-70 needs to be completed as originally planned. It will hook up with MLK Blvd and relieve a lot of traffic jams. Sen Mikulski got famous for saving Leakin Park, but if 70 had been built, we could put the Red Line right down the median (just like 795).

Whenever I lament that it now takes me 45 minutes to drive from Towson to Downtown (7.5 miles at 10 mph), I note fewer and fewer passengers in every car. One person per car is the rule. If everyone shared the ride with a co-worker, a neighbor, a friend or family member for just one day per week, we could reduce 10 percent of the congestion.

Isn't it interesting that of all the bootlenecks identified by ordinary citizens in the comments to this article, none are along the route of the Red Line. Yet instead of spending 1.2 billion dollars to help at these transportation challenges, our #1 transportation priority is a project that only the politicians and the bureaucracy support and endorse. These comments prove again that the RedLine is the wrong project in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The reason for the outer loop west side jam is because the right lane gets lost as an exit at I-70, I-40 and Edmonston. These are LITERAL bottlenecks. Worst case of traffic engineering ever - losing a lane for an exit.

Also - MD RT 32 is a parking lot from Sykesville to Clarksville (14 miles). Not kidding - stopped cars going 2-3mph for 14 miles