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:
“Only he who can view his own past as an abortion sprung from compulsion and need can use it to full advantage in the present. For what one has lived is at best comparable to a beautiful statue which has had all its limbs knocked off in transit, and now yields nothing but the precious block out of which the image of one’s future must be hewn.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“Do not discourage your children from hoarding, if they have a taste to it; whoever lays up his penny rather than part with it for a cake, at least is not the slave of gross appetite; and shows besides a preference always to be esteemed, of the future to the present moment.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.”
—Audre Lorde (1934–1992)