Future
In March 2009, construction began on the reconstruction of the bridge that carries MD 139 (Charles Street) over I-695. The bridge will be decorative, featuring ornamental street lights. As part of the MD 139 project, the interchange will be reconstructed and the traffic circle at the MD 139/I-695 ramps will be removed and replaced with a traffic signal. This project is expected to cost $50 million and be completed in 2012.
At Exit 33 (I-95/John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway), both highways cross over themselves so that all through traffic is on the left side of the road with left-hand entrance/exit ramps connecting the crossover sections. This interchange is currently being replaced by a more conventional flyover ramp interchange, as part of the I-95 expansion project under construction since 2007, eliminating the left-turn ramps and double crossovers. So far, several ramps have been completed, with the ramp from northbound I-95 to eastbound I-695 completed in September 2008, the ramp from westbound I-695 to northbound I-95 completed in October 2008, the ramp from northbound I-95 to westbound I-695 completed in November 2008 (eliminating the left-hand exit), and the ramp from eastbound I-695 to southbound I-95 was completed in May 2009. The ramps from southbound I-95 to both westbound and eastbound I-695 were completed in June 2009 and the ramp from westbound I-695 to southbound I-695 was completed in July 2009 and the ramp from eastbound I-695 to northbound I-95 opened in August 2009. In addition to rebuilding these ramps, the project will also add four ramps to service the express toll lanes being added to I-95.
There are long-term plans to add express toll lanes to I-695 to ease traffic congestion along the route. In addition, there are also plans to widen the portion of I-695 between I-83 and I-95 to the north of Baltimore. This road, which is to be widened to eight lanes, is currently in the design phase.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 695 (Maryland)
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“The most remarkable aspect of the transition we are living through is not so much the passage from want to affluence as the passage from labor to leisure.... Leisure contains the future, it is the new horizon.... The prospect then is one of unremitting labor to bequeath to future generations a chance of founding a society of leisure that will overcome the demands and compulsions of productive labor so that time may be devoted to creative activities or simply to pleasure and happiness.”
—Henri Lefebvre (b. 1901)
“If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)