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Two Outer Loop Ramp Detours Needed for 8-12 Weeks Until February 2019
(November 14, 2018) – Construction on the $68 million project to widen the outer loop of I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) between US 40 (Baltimore National Pike) and MD 144 (Frederick Road) is progressing, and the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) expects to open the fourth lane to traffic early 2019. The project will alleviate a long-standing bottleneck for the nearly 200,000 drivers who use the roadway every day.
Several important steps in the project require temporary traffic impacts. In order to raise the ramps to match the roadway height, beginning Sunday night, November 18, MDOT SHA will close and detour the ramp from
southbound (outer loop) of I-695 to Edmondson Avenue for approximately three months. Traffic will be directed to the Frederick Road interchange and back onto northbound (inner loop) of the Beltway and back to Edmondson Avenue.
Approximately four weeks later, crews will close the ramp from Edmondson Avenue to the outer loop of the Beltway for two months. Traffic on Edmondson Avenue will be detoured using northbound Ingleside Avenue to westbound Baltimore National Pike, through the I-695/US 40 interchange and back to the outer loop of the Beltway.
Digital message signs at the interchange will alert travelers to the temporary ramp closures and detours. The temporary ramp detours will allow contractor crews to reconstruct the interchange ramps to meet the elevation of the new wider and higher bridge carrying the outer loop (southbound) I-695 over Edmondson Avenue. Both ramps will reopen in winter 2019.
Additionally, in late-January, MDOT SHA’s contractor will close a single lane on the outer loop of I-695 at this location for an entire weekend to tie-in the ramp work. Crews will pave the third lane and switch outer loop traffic onto the newly constructed bridge over Edmondson Avenue. The lane closures will allow crews to complete work necessary to open the new, fourth lane of the outer loop to traffic.
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Detour Maps:
(MDOT SHA graphic: Detour map for the Outer Loop I-695 to Edmondson Avenue.)
(MDOT SHA graphic: Detour map for the Edmondson Avenue ramp to the outer loop of I-695.)