The Fort McHenry Tunnel is one of two tunnels that carry traffic underneath the Baltimore Harbor. It is named for Fort McHenry, which it passes close by.
The tunnel, which opened on November 23, 1985, closed a gap in the East Coast’s most significant interstate route, Interstate 95, between Maine and Florida. At the time of its opening it was the most expensive underwater tunnel project in the United States, but that figure has since been surpassed by the Big Dig project in Boston.
The Fort McHenry Tunnel was constructed from June 1980 to November 1985, at a cost of about $750 million. The tunnel's annual traffic in 2009 was 43.4 million vehicles. As of November 2011 the toll rate for cars is $3.00, paid in either direction. Vehicles with more than two axles pay additional amounts, up to $15.00 for six axles.
Read more about Fort McHenry Tunnel: Design and Construction
Famous quotes containing the words fort and/or tunnel:
“So here they are, the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals riding the outposts of the nation, from Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark. They were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“You may raise enough money to tunnel a mountain, but you cannot raise money enough to hire a man who is minding his own business.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)