MARYLAND STATE HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION TO TEMPORARILY CLOSE I-95/I-495 (CAPITAL BELTWAY) AT MD 5 (BRANCH AVENUE) ON FRIDAY NIGHT, APRIL 4 AND SATURDAY MORNING, APRIL 5
Crews to Set Bridge Structural Steel for New Bridge at I-95/MD 5 Interchange; I-95 to be Affected for up to 17 Hours; MOTORISTS ENCOURAGED TO AVOID THE AREA
(March 28, 2008) – On Friday night, April 4, as part of the State Highway Administration’s (SHA) $52 million interchange project along MD 5 at I-95/I-495 (Capital Beltway), SHA will begin setting structural steel for the southbound Capital Beltway flyover ramp to southbound MD 5 (Branch Avenue.) The steel placement will require a temporary closure of southbound I-95 for up to 14 hours and a temporary closure of northbound I-95 for up to ten hours, weather permitting. The closures are necessary to ensure worker and motorist safety as 12 twenty-ton, curved steel beams are erected and bolted together directly over the travel lanes of I-95. In addition, five massive cranes needed to lift the beams will be on the I-95 travel lanes, necessitating the total road closures.
SOUTHBOUND I-95 (INNER LOOP OF THE BELTWAY)
• Beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, the contractor will begin closing lanes of southbound I-95, diverting traffic onto the two-lane ramp to Branch Avenue. Motorists will be detoured to a double-left turn onto Auth Road, across the MD 5 intersection and back to southbound I-95.
• Traffic signal timing will provide the maximum timing for the I-95 traffic being detoured. Major delays are expected along I-95, Auth Road and MD 5 in the area.
• Two lanes along southbound I-95 should re-open by 10 a.m. Saturday morning, though the contract does allow a total closure through 1 p.m. All lanes are expected to open by 1 p.m.
SOUTHBOUND MD 5 RAMP TO NORTHBOUND I-95
• SHA will also close the ramp from southbound MD 5 to northbound I-95 between 8 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.
• Traffic will be diverted to the MD 5/MD 337 intersection to access northbound I-95.
• The ramp traffic must be detoured as the right shoulder along northbound I-95 will be used as a through lane, meaning ramp traffic would have no merge area.
• SHA suggests either MD 458 (Silver Hill Road) to MD 4 (Pennsylvania Avenue) or MD 414 (Saint Barnabas Road), which both connect to I-95 as an alternate during the ramp closure.
NORTHBOUND I-95 (OUTER LOOP OF THE BELTWAY)
• SHA will close two left lanes of northbound I-95 beginning 8 p.m. Friday night, April 4. Two right lanes will remain open.
• ALL LANES ALONG NORTHBOUND I-95 WILL CLOSE between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, April 5. Traffic will be diverted onto the ramp to southbound MD 5 (Branch Avenue) to MD 337 (Allentown Road) to the I-95/MD 337 interchange, where motorists can access northbound I-95.
• SHA and the contractor will do everything possible to re-open a single right lane along northbound I-95 at 8 a.m. April 5.
• All lanes along northbound I-95 should be open by 1 p.m. April 5.
All lanes along both directions of I-95 and the southbound MD 5 ramp to northbound I-95 are expected to re-open to traffic by 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 5.
To avoid MAJOR delays, motorists are strongly encouraged to use alternate routes. Motorists from the north traveling through the Washington region to points south are encouraged to use I-495 across the American Legion Bridge. Motorists from the east along US 50 should consider US 301 south, or continue along US 50 to MD 295, which turns into I-295 in Washington D.C. and connects back with I-95 near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Local traffic heading south along MD 295 (Baltimore Washington Parkway), US 50 (John Hanson Highway), MD 214 (Central Avenue) and MD 4 (Pennsylvania Avenue) should use MD 295 or US 50 to I-295 into Washington DC. I-295 connects with I-95 near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Sent to Montgomery County Severe Traffic 6am-10am/3pm-8pm, Traffic-Gaithersburg, XM Radio Traffic Center, Traffic-Takoma Park, Traffic-Rockville (e-mail accounts) through Alert Montgomery
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