Interstate 81 in Maryland - Future

Future

I-81 is presently heavily congested within Maryland due to the 1960s era freeway being used as both a commuter route within a rapidly growing metropolitan area as well as a major trucking corridor. In 2010, the highway had a minimum annual average daily traffic of 47,221 between Showalter Road and PA 163 and a maximum of 68,311 between I-70 and Halfway Boulevard. The Interstate is often used by long-distance traffic as an alternative to I-95 to avoid traveling through the major cities of the East Coast. As a result, in 2001 the Maryland State Highway Administration began developing long-term plans to upgrade the entire length of I-81 in Maryland. The state completed the planning process for the eventual upgrades to the Interstate highway in November 2010; the next step is preliminary engineering work. The state plans to expand I-81 to six lanes to address capacity concerns. In addition, many of the interchanges will be rebuilt to reduce or eliminate weaving. In particular:

• The collector-distributor lanes within the I-70 interchange would be extended north through the Halfway Boulevard interchange.
• The US 40 and Showalter Road interchanges would be changed from a full cloverleaf interchange to a partial interchange by removing the two loop ramps from the crossroad onto I-81.
• The MD 58 interchange may be converted from a partial cloverleaf interchange to a diamond interchange.
• The Maugans Avenue diamond interchange may have a loop ramp added from westbound Maugans Avenue to southbound I-81.

At almost every interchange, acceleration and deceleration lanes would be lengthened to modern standards. The ramps within the I-70 interchange would be modified to better handle traffic passing between two freeways. Auxiliary lanes would be added in both directions between the US 40 and MD 58 interchanges, and southbound between the Showalter Road and Maugans Avenue interchanges. In addition, there is an option to construct a truck weigh station somewhere along I-81 within the state; there are presently no weigh stations along either the Maryland or West Virginia segments of I-81.