Harbor Tunnel marks 50th

Fifty years ago, the infamous "Baltimore bottleneck" was unplugged. On the day after Thanksgiving in 1957, Gov.

[Bud J]

Uh....... Wow...50 years
great things USED to be able to get done....
Now........

[tc in dc]

Bud J wrote:

Uh....... Wow...50 years
great things USED to be able to get done....
Now........

Yes...today it would be fought in court of decades by environmentalists who would lecture everyone on how they should stop driving from NY to DC and either stay home or find "alternative transportation."

I used the Harbor Tunnel every day for two years to commute to my job in Canton, and it's like America's Best Kept Secret. 895 is practically deserted even during peak times, yet is technically a shorter route than I-95 and the Fort McHenry.

The only problem with it (besides that the MD state troopers like to use it as a fundraiser for the state) is that it is still suffering from the deliberate design decision made 50 years ago, to provide no exits on approach to the tunnel (except for the one added southbound in the last 20 years for JHU). That made sense then, but now...at the very least, there should be an interchange with I-95 just north of the tunnels.

[Firefighter Steve]

I really liked the photos of the building of the tunnel. Great photo's!

[MCG]

Actually, tc in dc, it's the Maryland Transportation Authority Police who uses I-895 as their own fundraiser; however, their revenues should go down somewhat once the speed limit is increased to 65 between MD 295 and I-95. They plan to increase the speed limit once the new overhead signs are erected along the entire freeway.

[Ted]

You guys beat me to my point. A diificult desision was made in spite of opposition. Nowadays years would be spend getting people who are completely opposed to the idea to agree to it! Anyone with any doubts needs to look at public transit in this city. The subway desperitally needs to be expanded, but by the time they break ground on it, it will need to be expanded even more! Why can't we just get things done!?!

[Joe]

Ted, it is call Job Security for those who we put in office. No one wants to aggree on anything until it suits there needs.

[Dave]

Pssssst .... don't talk so loud, Martin probably didn't think about taxing each motorist (even with paying a toll)to use the Tunnel. Martin, Mikey, and Mickey will consider using it a "luxury." Quick, any O'Malley aide reading the article give him a call, after all the regular session of the GA starts in January. Marty will need time to politic for this new tax.

[MCG]

Dave,

Wasn't it the Ehrlich administration who doubled the Harbor tolls to $2 and increased the Susquehanna toll from $2 to $5?

[garrett german]

I worked on the canton side or the tunnel as a 24 year old electrical foreman installing wiring for the tunnel fans and lighting systems. When the tubes were finally joined , there was a ceremony with newspaper reporters and television to see Governor Mckelden step through the opening that was cut
by welders. Before he could walk to the opening, Joseph Beckhart a electrician working on the other side stepped through the opening an said Hi Governor. with that the Governor returned to his car in a huff and left.

[Ronald Schmidt]

As a ten year old child, I accompanied my Dad, John Joseph Schmidt, to the launching of the first section of the tunnel completed by Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock and for the dedication ceremony as well. It was a big deal for a little guy like me,and I remember enjoying the free hot dogs but not the speeches! My Dad was responsible for supervising the construction teams for the tunnel sections at Md. Drydock. It was an important project at the time as the recession had depressed other shipbuliding and there had been many lay-offs from the yard at the time prior to this project.

[SierraHotel]

"Now 82 and retired, Hirzel recalled the occasion as "a big deal." Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. spoke; a prominent rabbi gave the invocation; the Roman Catholic archbishop blessed the tunnel, and an Episcopal bishop delivered a benediction. "The day they opened the tunnel up - that day was like a Maryland holiday almost," Hirzel said."

Back in the day when moslems were almost unheard of, the world was a much better place back then. Baltimore had a much larger population with a fraction of the crime.

[RoadMan]

Today such a project would be fought for decades as environmentalists would come out of the woodwork to claim that aquatic life would be harmed and that a transit or ferry alternative should be considered in lieu of a road.

[Ronald Roche]

Great Job!