Frederick Road Exit Ramp to Re-open

The Exit 13 ramp is slated to open again next week.

The exit ramp from the outer loop of Interstate 695 to Frederick Road will re-open again Nov. 29, according to officials from the Maryland State Highway Administration. David Buck, an SHA spokesperson, confirmed the ramp at Exit 13 to Frederick Road is scheduled to re-open next Thursday at 5 a.m. The ramp has been closed for several weeks due to a rebuilding of the first half of the bridge on Frederick Road over the beltway. "It hasn't been a major issue because traffic is able to use either Edmondson or Wilkens," Buck said. "Clearly, this provides direct access into downtown Catonsville." After the ramp re-opens, traffic on Frederick Road itself will then be switched over to the new bridge. And for one night, next Wednesday into Thursday …

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Officials Urge Caution as Road Work Season Heats Up

Drivers share road with 115 major construction projects in state, officials said.

With several major road construction projects under way or about to start, state officials held a press conference on a ramp of the I-695 Baltimore Beltway to update the public and urge caution when driving through work zones. "Work zones can be inherently dangerous for both workers and drivers," said SHA administrator Melinda Peters. "We need to make sure that drivers are focused on being safe as they encounter our work zones." Nationally, more than 700 people are killed in work zones annually, according to SHA. Roughly 80 percent of those killed in work zones are drivers, not workers, officials said. In Maryland, there are on average almost 2,000 work zone crashes every year, resulting in almost 1,000 injuries and an average of nine …

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Beltway Wilkens Ramps Changing

Newly reconstructed eastbound ramp to Wilkens opens while westbound ramp from inner loop Beltway closes.

As the replacement of the inner loop Beltway bridge over Wilkens Avenue enters its next phase, the State Highway Administration is changing exit ramps that drivers will use to leave the inner loop. Beginning March 27, SHA will close the ramp to Exit 12C westbound on Wilkens and detour all inner loop traffic to the newly reconstructed ramp to Exit 12B headed eastbound on Wilkens. SHA will adjust the temporary traffic signal system at Wilkens and Kenwood Avenue to allow motorists to either turn left onto westbound Wilkens toward UMBC or turn right onto eastbound Wilkens headed towards downtown. Crews will begin closing travel lanes at 7 p.m. on March 27. Three lanes will be closed by 11 p.m., according to SHA officials. The new traffic …

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New Traffic Pattern Begins on Wilkens

Lanes shift to right to allow equipment around center bridge supports.

Traffic will shift on Wilkens Avenue in the vicinity of the Beltway between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 14 while crews work on replacing the inner loop Beltway bridge over Wilkens, according to state highway officials. Both the eastbound and westbound Wilkens Avenue lanes under the bridge will be shifted outward, away from the center piers supporting the bridge, so crews may work and park vehicles and equipment underneath, SHA officials said. The reconstructed ramp leading from the inner loop to eastbound Wilkens Avenue is nearly completed. Paving of the ramp began Feb. 27 and was completed Mar. 3, according to state officials. Next, crews will reconstruct the pavement on what used to be the shoulder of I-695 leading to the newly …

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Picture This: The Sucro-Lawrence House in Once-Bucolic Eden Terrace Still Stands

Beltway construction obliterated most of the late 19th century homes developed by Victor Bloede.

Long before the Baltimore Beltway carved its course through parts of Catonsville, a bucolic area known as Eden Terrace included a number of late Victorian-era homes. One, known as the Sucro-Lawrence House, for the family that has been the sole owner since it was built, is a reminder today of simpler times. In May of 1983, Antoinette (“Toni”) Hughes offered an oral history conducted by interviewer Charlotte French at 13 Woodlawn Avenue, her grandfather’s and father’s home, as part of the Friends of the Catonsville Library oral history program. The full interview transcript is available to visitors to the Catonsville Room. Toni Hughes is the daughter of Arthur Gower Lawrence and Antoinette Sucro Lawrence and offered fond recollections of …

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