BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON PARKWAY (MD 295) OPENED TO TRAFFIC FOLLOWING SUCCESSFUL REMOVAL OF WEST NURSERY ROAD BRIDGE
 
(November 3, 2012) – The State Highway Administration reopened the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (MD 295) at 7:30 a.m. after crews successfully used special hydraulic moving equipment to lift and remove the 300-ton West Nursery Road bridge deck over northbound MD 295.  The State Highway Administration (SHA) closed the Parkway at West Nursery Road last night at 10 p.m. to perform the innovative construction technique. Both directions of MD 295 are now flowing freely.
 
The entire structure was carried several hundred feet north on MD 295 by a “self-propelled modular transporter” (SPMT) system and deposited onto temporary supports in the median where it will be demolished and salvaged for scrap this week.
 
“The first phase of the ‘bridge on wheels’ deck replacement worked well. Crews executed a safe, flawless bridge move this morning and restored traffic on MD 295 ahead of schedule,” said SHA Administrator Melinda B. Peters.  “This innovative approach to bridge reconstruction is a new technology that saves time and substantially compresses the impact to traffic to a few weekends instead of two construction seasons.”
 
MD 295 will remain open Saturday until 10 p.m. when it will again be closed so crews can wheel the new bridge deck into place overnight using SPMTs.  West Nursery Road will remain closed at MD 295 all day Saturday and will reopen Sunday once the new bridge is in place.
 
SHA will repeat this process the weekend of November 9-11 for the West Nursery Road bridge deck over southbound MD 295.  The project is weather dependent.
 
During the closures, SHA is directing travelers to use I-95, I-97, US 1 (Washington Boulevard) or US 29 (Columbia Pike) as alternate routes. Those traveling east and west should use Hammonds Ferry Road as an alternate for West Nursery Road. SHA is using overhead and portable message signs, cones and barrels to guide motorists around the work zone. Airport travelers should plan sufficient time reaching Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport.
 
Follow SHA on Twitter @MDSHA and view our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/MarylandStateHighwayAdministration.  For up to the minute traffic information, call 511 or log onto www.MD511.org.
 
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