Two 1984 photos from the days of the national speed limit, just inside the Delaware border, courtesy Averill Hecht.
MDTA does not make pretty shields for some reason.
I guess sign replacement crews have a tendency not to look up, because the old font on these bridge signs indicates they're around 40 years old, and could even date to the first time overpasses were signed.
Way up in the northeast corner of Maryland, both are old but not button copy. The Chesapeake House link at the bottom of this page follows the blue sign into the service area, where more old signs await.
One more of these sneaks south of the Susquehanna River.
And drive across that river by clicking this video.
SB at Exit 64, a crazy crossover interchange where I-95 SB and NB used to switch, as well as I-695 inner and outer (inner, aka "EAST", is about to turn southward and then back westward across the Francis Scott Key Bridge). This meant that all eight ramps only turned 90 degrees and there was no weaving, but half of the entrances and exits were on the left, usually an unsafe practice. Well, I really just put this photo, courtesy Scott Colbert, here for the older I-695 shield on the left, and because I-895 doesn't come into existence until Exit 62. Also, it has now become a historic sign because the weave has been undone. The first sign, in addition to being old, misspells "White Marsh" and hides its MD 43 designation.
As I take the southbound ramp to I-695, views of the future SB-EB flyover in the foreground curving next to the NB-WB flyover in the background. (In the third photo, they're left and right instead of foreground and background.)
In November 2009, I-95 SB still crossed over to the east, but I-95 NB had already been uncrossed so that it no longer weaves with the SB lanes. The future through lanes take shape to the right.
Looking south at the madness from Rossville Blvd. In addition to preparing the SB lanes to continue straight, the old NB lanes have yet to be removed from inside the new ones, even showing the stripe from the old I-695 WB ramp merge. Eventually, this space is going to be cleared out to create a bi-directional express toll roadway down the middle. (It started as an HOV lane conceptually, but they wanted more money.)
Between March 16, 2010 and the Baltimore Road Meet on April 17, the new SB lanes opened, leaving the former I-95 NB lanes crossing over the former I-95 SB lanes in the median with no traffic on either.
Progress on toll lane construction between I-695 and I-895 in November 2009.
Continued progress in April 2010, with traffic moved from the outside of the roadway to the inside for further reconstruction.
This January 2011 run starts north of the I-695 interchange, at the beginning of the future toll lanes, continuing down to the remnants of the former SB overcrossing of the NB lanes.
Here's a photo run from March 2013 showing progress on the toll lanes north of I-695. While it may not have been apparent in 2009, the uncrossing of I-95's roadways permitted the toll lanes to be built down the median.
Finally, here is prep work for the toll lanes in May 2014, just before their December opening. Once I-95 is widened, the mainline lanes can be pushed to the outside and the Express Lanes built on the inside, clearly a quick job overall. At the same time, the old MD 43 cloverleaf was replaced, and the last two photos show the new WB-SB flyover taking shape.
north of Baltimore
MDTA does not make pretty shields for some reason.
