I got my Beltway article published in the Baltimore Sun in an attempt to expose my blog to a wider audience. Check it out at:
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.beltway21feb21,0,1470810.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines
The Sun published the Baltimore InnerSpace blog address, although in the online version, blogspot is shown as blog-spot, so I don't know if that is to blame for the lack of a huge upturn in my website hits.
Anyway, below are a couple photographs of the north and south ends of the "new" Interstate 83 that would replace the west side of the Beltway.
Above is southbound I-83 just north of the Beltway. The only sign change necessary would be to get rid of the I-695 West label just above the word "Baltimore", which would make the sign much less confusing anyway. "I-695 West" could be replaced with "I-183 South" for the new number of the Jones Falls Expressway, which would make the sign even clearer.
On the northbound ramps, there would be no changes at this point.
Here is the existing split for southbound I-97 and eastbound I-695 south of Baltimore. Currently, all sorts of motorist consternation is caused by the fact that I-97, in the middle lanes of the interchange and on the left side of the split, is considered the thru road at this point. Beltway drivers have difficulty reconciling the the fact that they are the ones who have to keep right and then "exit", just in order to keep going on the Beltway.
If I-97 and the west side of the Beltway were both renumbered as I-83, there would be no more issues with this. I-83 would be the through road, and the customary rules of the road dictate that through traffic is supposed to keep left on expressways. Traffic wishing to continue on what is now called the Beltway would be exiting I-83 to enter I-695 at its southern origin point. This traffic would take the exit ramp to the right, which would be the origin point of I-695. It makes a lot more sense.
On northbound I-97 at this point, the current signage is even more at odds with common sense, but there is no safe overpass to take a good photograph of it. The biggest ramp is the one that would become the simple northbound I-83 through movement, while all the other movements would be subordinate.
Most importantly, the movement from what is now northbound I-97 to the Harbor Tunnel Thruway should NOT be used just to access the Harbor Tunnel Thruway. It should be possible to go straight through from the highway now called I-97 into Baltimore City on what is now the Harbor Tunnel Thruway. This is explained in my previous blog article of May 2006 called "The Lost Highway". See the May 2006 archives:
http://baltimoreinnerspace.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html
or go directly to the labeled photographs:
http://baltimoreinnerspace.blogspot.com/2006/05/approaching-downtown-on-i-97.html
and http://baltimoreinnerspace.blogspot.com/2006/05/skyline-view.html
This "Lost Highway" is now grossly underutilized, and it just happens to be beautiful as well. It could be numbered I-383, and be the southern version of the Jones Falls Expressway.
Clearly, there are reasons why the interstates are numbered the way they are. I don't know why the Baltimore Sun wasted space by posting your suggestions. No offense, but you came up with some pretty stupid proposals that make no sense. Are you just trying to confuse drivers as much as possible? I would be happy to send you a ten page paper I wrote my junior year of college all about why the highways are laid out the way they are.
ReplyDeleteYes, Justin, I would be very happy to read your paper on why highways are laid out the way they are. You didn't provide an email address so hopefully you will return to my blog and see this. I'm glad I was able to write on a topic that interests you.
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