Fast talk from a highway expert

July 21, 2008

Tom Hicks knows almost everything there is to know about Maryland highways. He's 75, and has been the State Highway Administration's chief traffic safety engineer for 40 years. He's as frisky and energetic as a new recruit and isn't planning to retire "till I get it right."

Recent columns

• A to-do list for road safety

  July 14, 2008

  The president of the Baltimore City Council was there, promising to work on her bad habit of texting while driving.

• Shifting gears on mass transit

  July 7, 2008

  When gas prices were clunking along in the low 3-buck-something range, mass transit didn't seem nearly as interesting as it does now. For the vast majority of us, the idea of sharing the commuting experience with strangers was as remote as planting our own tofu trees.

• Fueling a mass transit debate

  June 30, 2008

  If commuter buses are so threatening to a community's safety and serenity, why does Julia Walters of Kent Island miss hers so much?

• MTA trip planner doesn't click, yet

  June 23, 2008

  The folks at the Maryland Transit Administration are doing something extremely stupid - for which they should be commended.

• Gas costs demand different solutions

  June 16, 2008

  This column has never received a more heated reaction than the time it modestly suggested that the bus bays at the Owings Mills Metro station could be put to productive use receiving commuter buses from Carroll County.

• Texting drivers: R U 4 real?

  May 26, 2008

  It's a reliable rule of thumb, validated by a colleague from Baton Rouge, that anytime your state ties with Louisiana for anything, it's bad news.

• Redo for dreaded Towson circle

  May 19, 2008

  Robert McGrain of Towson likes most roundabouts - but not the dreaded one in downtown Towson, where four roads come together in a two-lane mishmash.

• Travel light, and ride close

  May 12, 2008

  It's been quite an experience riding the light rail system the past couple of weeks. Certainly it's been a great way to get to know your fellow Baltimoreans a little better. My favorite was that southbound stretch between Mount Washington and North Avenue, whipping around curves in a stuffed-to-the-gills one-car train while standing in a stairwell jotting down quotes offered by fellow members of the "crush load."

• Traffic court debate in session

  May 5, 2008

  Christopher Winslow of Baltimore is an ardent opponent of speed cameras who thinks I "really do follow the party line - the Nazi Party that is." He found my suggestion two weeks ago that citizens monitor the performance of their traffic courts to be downright sinister.

• Driven to make our roads safer

  April 28, 2008

  Two weeks ago, this column suggested that cutting Maryland's highway death toll of more than 600 a year in half would be a worthy -- and achievable -- goal.

• ICC opponents can keep project honest

  November 26, 2007

  The toothpaste is out of the tube. The fat lady has not only sung; she's cooling down with a post-operatic beer. The Rubicon has been crossed - by a six-lane toll bridge.