Community Corner

Bridge Rehab to Bring Detour, Speed Cameras to Ellicott City

The state will be restoring four bridges in Ellicott City this spring and summer, and bringing its speed enforcement program to Route 29.

A project to restore six bridges in Howard County, including four in Ellicott City, is scheduled to begin this week, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA).

With those the projects will come more speed cameras, part of the state’s SafeZones automated speed enforcement program, according to SHA. 

Phase one of the $3.9 million bridge rehabilitation project will involve closing the ramp from eastbound U.S. Route 40 to northbound U.S. Route 29 for two months beginning Monday, April 16. No other ramps will be closed, according to SHA. A detour will take traffic to southbound Route 29 through MD Route 108, then back to northbound Route 29.

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The SHA will be working on two Route 29 bridges – one over Route 40 and the other over Route 40, Ramp A, which is a quarter mile south of the Route 40 interchange.

Crews may also close one or two lanes on Route 29 Sunday through Thursday nights between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Find out what's happening in Ellicott Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

During construction, the SafeZones automated speed enforcement program will be put in place at the work sites. The laser-based speed cameras rotate among work zones around the state and, like the , will issue $40 citations to vehicle traveling 12 mph or faster over the posted speed limit.

Enforcement is set to begin on the northbound side of Route 29 on April 17; citations will not carry fines – just warnings – until May 8.

Near by, cameras are also in use on Interstate 695 at Wilkins Avenue and I-695 at Frederick Road, both in Baltimore County. Nearly 30,000 citations have been issued at those two cameras since October 2011 when enforcement began at Wilkins Avenue. Enforcement began at Frederick Road in December of 2011.

You can see a map of the SafeZone enforcement areas, plus the total number of citations issued, on the SHA SafeZones website.

Phase two of the rehabilitation project, set to begin in mid- to late-summer will focus on southbound Route 29 bridges at Route 40 and Frederick Road,.

The project will also restore the east and westbound MD Route 216 bridges over Interstate 95.


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