Earlier today, a large exterior awning outside the Greyhound terminal at 2110 Haines Street collapsed under the weight of snow. There were no injuries or damages. Effective immediately, all Greyhound service has been rerouted to the Baltimore Travel Plaza, 5625 O’Donnell Street. There will be no service in or out of the terminal on Haines Street for at least the next 48 - 72 hours.

We do advise passengers to check our web site, http://ui-blogs.trb.com/cgi-bin/mt/www.greyhound.com, or call 1-800-231-2222 to confirm their schedules in the event of additional inclement weather. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.

Baltimore, MD (February 8, 2010) – The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is asking 

customers for patience as the agency works to provide safe public transit services during the 

season‟s heaviest snowfall. Continuous efforts to keep surfaces clear of snow and ice as well as 

the removal of fallen tree branches on train tracks are labor intensive and require tremendous 

resources.  The following transportation service will be available on Tuesday, February 9, 2010:  

LOCAL BUS 

 Limited service will be provided on the following Local Bus lines: #3, #5, #8, #10, #13, 

#14, #15, #17, #19, #23, #35, #36, #40, #44, #52, #54, and #59.  All other lines will not operate.  

Customers are advised to call the Transit Information Center at 410-539-5000 to confirm the 

status of their bus.  

METRO SUBWAY 

 Metro Subway will operate every 15 to 20 minutes between Owings Mills and Johns 

Hopkins Hospital due to single track operation in some areas.  Parking lots have been cleared, 

but many spaces remained blocked by snow. 

Light Rail will operate as follows: 

Between Hunt Valley and North Avenue, trains will operate every 30 minutes.  Riders 

continuing south of North Avenue must transfer at North Avenue. 

Between North Avenue and Camden Yards, trains will operate every 40 minutes.  Riders 

continuing north or south must transfer at North Avenue or Camden Station. 

Between Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie and Camden Yards, trains will operate every 20 

minutes.  Between BWI Marshall Airport and Camden Yards, trains will operate every 20 

minutes.  The combined frequency between Linthicum and Camden Yards is 10 minutes. 

There will no service to Penn Station.  The closest open Light Rail station is University of 

Baltimore/Mt. Royal. 

All stations are open, but parking lots, sidewalks, stairs, ramps and platforms may be slippery or 

partially blocked by snow. 

MARC TRAIN 

MARC will be running an S schedule on the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines.   

COMMUTER BUS 

Commuter Bus Routes 410, 411, and 420 will operate REGULAR service. Midday trip „A‟ on 

Route 420 will also run.  

Routes 310, 320, 915, 929, and 995 are all CANCELED for Tuesday. Park & Ride lots have not 

been cleared.  

All other Commuter Bus routes will operate on the “S” or "L/S" schedule. Only Trips with an 

“S” or “L/S” above the trip number will operate.  

*Route 991 riders-please check WMATA‟s website www.wmata.com for information regarding 

service and the impact it may have on your commute.    

** Both of BWI's main commercial runways are now open.

** By afternoon, airline carriers at BWI Marshall were flying near-normal schedules, with few reported cancellations.

** Southwest Airlines has announced flight cancellations for Tuesday and Wednesday at BWI, Dulles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other markets. For details, see-- http://www.southwest.com/html/travel_center/midatlantic_winter_storm_beg_5feb.html

** To prepare for the next expected storm, snow-removal crews, both Airport employees and contractors, will be activated on Tuesday. The snow teams will work to remove snow and ice from Airport runways, taxiways, and ramp areas, as well as public roadways, parking lots, and sidewalks.

** With a potentially significant snowfall expected, BWI Marshall Airport customers may want to consider parking under cover in one of the Airport’s parking garages.

Tonight’s closure of the Inner Loop I-695 between Quarantine Road (Exit 1) and MD 10 (Exit 2) for barrier wall removal has been canceled due to the recent winter storm. The opening of the left lane of the Inner Loop may be postponed until after Thursday as originally scheduled, pending weather conditions. Updates will be provided as they become available.

Answer: Look in your rear view mirror. If somebody is tailgating you and blowing his or her horn, you are.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley said Baltimore's Metro is continuing to run on the underground part between Mondawmin Mall and Johns Hopkins Hospital -- as it did Saturday -- but she said the aboveground stretch to Owings Mills would be closed all day and into tomorrow. She said a bus shuttle may be in place between Mondawmin and Owings Mills until above-ground service can resume.

Officials were awaiting a decision from the federal government on whether most of its workers will be required to report Monday. But Swaim-Staley said she expects MARC commuter trains to be operating on a holiday schedule, though some of the parking lots may have limited parking because snow hasn't been cleared.

Ahe advised MARC riders to check the Maryland Transit Administration web site, www.mtamaryland.com, before leaving for a station tomorrow. Riders of other services can find information there as well.

Traffic appeared to be moving briskly on most of the state's major roads at midday as snow plows were able to clear multiple lanes on interstates. An exception was snake-bitten Interstate 95 near Route 175 -- the scene of a massive hours-long backup Saturday -- where traffic was crawling after two tractor-trailers jack-knifed in successsion. As of nearly 1:45 p.m., traffic was inching along the stretch of I-95 south of Route 100.

At noon, a large snow plow train -- following front-end loaders -- worked to scrape away the layer of compacted snow that settled on I-95 near Rouite 100  when Saturday's nine-hour backup block snow-clearing. Traffic was backed up behind the plows as they worked to clear that 6-mile stretch leading to Route 175. Motorists are being  advised to use parallel routes such as Maryland 295, U.S. 29 or U.S. 1 but many were choosing to stay on the interstate. Where on Saturday interstate traffic was mostly made up of trucks, passenger cars appeared to make up roughly three-quarters of the traffic flow Sunday.

Another problem developed about 11:30 a.m. when power lines fell across both lanes of U.S. 301 between Bowie and Upper Marlboro on the main route to Southern Maryland. Traffic was backed up in both direction and was still halted as of 1:45 p.m. SHA spokesman Dave Buck said Pepco was on the scene near Trade Zone Road  and was working to clear the highway but he had no estimate how soon that would happen.

"While much of major highways are cleared, there still are many spots where it has not been totally cleared," he said. Secondary roads for for the most part still impassable, he said.

State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen said there have been many spin-out crashes around the state as drivers try to resume normal speeds before the roads are ready. In many case, those vehicles are getting stuck, backing up traffic behind them.

"The vast majority of those cases involve vehicles that were driven too fast for conditions," Pedersen. Under current conditions, he said, driving the speed limit is driving far too fast, noting that limits are set for fair-weather conditions.

Ramps pose a particular danger because most have large quantities of snow piled up alongside the, Pedersen said. He added that in most cases, acceleration and deceleration lanes are not open, making it difficult to merge with the flow of highway-speed traffic.

Many of the piles of snow by state roadways, Pedersen said, are 6 to 8 feet high -- too massive to be cleared by snow plows. He said they can't be removed until crews can bring in front-end loaders that are in limited supply.

Pedersen said the day's problems will get worse this evening as temperatures fall into the teens and even single-digits in parts of the state. He warned that will lead to the formation of treacherous "black ice."

The highway chief urged Marylanders to watch the Super Bowl at home tonight rather than risk being on the road after the game.

Motorists who do become stuck on highways are being urged not to abandon their vehicles. Maryland State Police Superintendent said vehicles abandoned in the roadway will be towed away. He urged drivers who leave their cars only to find them gone when they return to contact the nearest state police barracks for help in locating their vehicles.

Sun photo/Michael Dresser

The Southwest terminal at BWI Marshall  lies nearly deserted at about 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

Pia Hernandez said she checked her airline's web site and saw that her flight was "on time" before she set out for Baltimore Washington International Airport Sunday morning. It wasn't until she arrived at BWI that she learned no flights were going in or out of the snow-buried airport.

So the Killeen, Texas, resident applied her self to the unpleasant task of calling her boss to say the almost certainly won't be at work Monday morning.

Hernandez was one of a lonely few passengers to be seen Sunday morning at BWI, where the normally bustling Southwest terminal was all but deserted at 9 a.m.  The airport was open as it entered its second full day without commecial flights. State officials said the brunways would reopen at 5 p.m. Sunday and that a few flights might varrive Sunday night. However, departing flights are still not expected to resume until midday Monday, although a few passengers expressed hope they could catch a flight out Sunday night as some airlines held open a slim possibility that service might resume.

Sun photo/Michael Dresser

Pia Hernandez of Killeen, Texas, phones her employer from BWI to say she probably won't be at work Monday morning because no flights were leaving the airport Sunday.

Flight board at Southwest terminal at BWI tells the story Sunday morning.

That hope is likely to be in vain, however, because there were almost not jets at BWI. All but one airliner departed Friday to avoid being covered in snow. Departures won't be able to depart until arrivals arrive.

Airport work crews labored through the day Sunday to clear some 26-28 inches of snow from the runways, taxiways and gate areas. A smattering of airport workers were on duty, including ticket agents and a few Transportation Security Administration officers staffing unused security checkpoints, but a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer said the scene reminded him of Sept. 12, 2001, when no planes were flying in the aftermath of 9/11.

One of the passengers hoping Sunday morning  to get out before Monday was Karl Utz of San Francisco, who has b een stuck at the airport since Friday -- having missed a flight to Chicago because of heavy traffic.

Utz, a Department of Homeland Security employee, said he was able to stretch out and get some sleep on the BWI observation deck and found food at a Subway franchise that remained open.

"I'm not in a hurry so it's not a problem for me. I'm just bored," he said. With TVs turned off,  he's had little to do but walk around the empty terminals.

 "I think I know every inch of this airport," he said.  "I was in the military 22 years, so you learn to adapt."

If he couldn't get a flight out Sunday night, Utz said, he'd be ready to spring for a hotel room.

Paul J. Wiedefeld, Executive Director of the Maryland Aviation Administration, said in a press release that "we must provide a safe operation for airlines and travelers before normal flights can resume.”

BWI officials reported that Southwest Airlines, the largest airline at BWI, cancelled all flights today there and at   Dulles International, Philadelphia International, and Pittsburgh International airports.  The flight board at BWI showed all flights canceled.

Travelers affected by flight cancellations were being encouraged to rebook travel arrangements by telephone or airline websites rather than by going to BWI. With the possibility of an additional 6-12 inches later in the week, officials were urging travelers headed to the airport in coming days to park under cover in one of BWI's two garages -- even if it costs them a few dollars more.

Most major state highways seem to be moving well as we approach 9 p m. and Getting There is thinking of getting out.

There seems to be some unpleasantness along Maryland 295 near Route 175, and there's still that diversion around a stretch of Interstate 95 southbound between Interstate 195 and Route 100, but overall traffic is moving slowly -- but moving as the temperatures drop into the ice danger zone.

Few remain here at the operations center that has been the heart of the state's snow response. Still in the building are Gov. Martin O'Malley, Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley, Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen and National Guaqrd Lt. Col. Charles Kohler. There's a few transportation and highway spokespeople, some highway operations folks and a couple state troopers along with a handful of fading newscreatures.

We'll do it again tomorrow as O'Malley holds a news briefing at noon to bring us all the news from overnight and the outlook for Monday.

Stay safe. Stay happy. And most of all stay home.

State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen said his agency has shut down southbound Interstate 95 and Route 100 to new traffic in order to tow away an abandoned tractor-trailer and to clear snow that accumulated during a roughly 9-hour backup that occurred Saturday morning and afternoon.

Pedersen said that once the obstructions near Route 175 that caused the backup were cleared, highway workers found they had a problem with truck drivers who had fallen asleep at the wheel of their vehicles during the long standstill. Officials had to go from truck to truck waking drivers to get traffic moving, he said. One tractor-trailer was found to have been abandoned, he said, requiring that it be towed off the highway. (I'd hate to be that driver trying to explain what happened to the boss.) The state is now trying to get a heavy-duty towtruck into position to remove the tractor-trailer, Pedersen said.

Pedersen said that stretch of I-95 will reopen once the truck is gone and a snow plow train can get through, but he did not estimate how long that would take. He said the tail end of the backup had advanced about a mile since traffic flow was restored and is now over the Patapsco River.