Avoid I-895, MdTA warns

$189M bridge replacement starting this month will choke traffic flow into 2021

The commutes of tens of thousands of people will be disrupted for the next few years as Maryland replaces the Interstate 895 bridge north of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.

The Maryland Transportation Authority plans to limit that part of the expressway to one lane in each direction starting later this month for the $189 million project to replace the 60-year-old bridge.

The northbound lanes of I-895 will close from the tunnel to O'Donnell Street on Nov. 27 — the Tuesday after Thanksgiving — and the two southbound lanes will be converted to two-way traffic through spring 2020. Once the northbound span has been rebuilt, it will carry two-way traffic through spring 2021 while the southbound span is replaced.

“This is going to have a significant impact on people's travel,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn said. “People are going to notice.”

The state is recommending people use Interstate 95 or the I-695 beltway as an alternative to I-895 unless they need to reach one of its exits. The Holabird Avenue exit ramp from the bridge also will be replaced — and closed during the project, disrupting truck traffic to the port of Baltimore and warehouses such as Amazon's in the area.

Unless 40 percent of the 79,000 drivers who take I-895 each day use an alternative route, Rahn said, “we're going to see a lot of unhappy people.”

The project also includes $28 million in repairs and upgrades to the Harbor Tunnel, which will be completed during 60-day, continuous closures of each of its bores: the northbound one in spring 2019, and the southbound in spring 2020. Two-way traffic will operate in the opposite bore during each closure.