Two incidents - an oversize load that damaged the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and an accident at the Bay Bridge toll plaza - complicated traffic yesterday.
About 8:30 last night, the top of a backhoe secured to a flatbed trailer being pulled by a dump truck struck the roof of the southbound tube of the tunnel, bringing down ceiling tiles and parts of their support structures, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.
There were no injuries and no other vehicles were involved, Green said. MdTA Police halted traffic and set up detours, he said. Northbound traffic was not affected.
Green said southbound traffic was forced into a single lane, guided to the Leland Avenue service road and onto Keith Avenue. From Keith Avenue, Green said, southbound traffic could take I-95, I-695 or go through downtown Baltimore.
Green said work crews were removing debris and that southbound traffic was expected to reopen sometime after midnight after a complete inspection of the damaged area and that any tiles that appeared to be in danger of falling were removed.
"Our constant concern is safety," said Green.
Yesterday morning, several lanes of the Bay Bridge toll plaza were closed while firefighters struggled to free a man who was trapped in a vehicle that had flipped over and landed atop another one.
Once the 31-year-old man was freed, he and two other people were taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis with what Green described as nonlife-threatening injuries.
The accident occurred about 10 a.m. when a black Nissan Xterra sport utility vehicle, approaching an EZ-Pass lane in the toll plaza at what police said appeared to be a high rate of speed, struck one of the concrete buffers that protect the toll booths and it rolled onto an adjoining car.
Richard Irwin and Nick Madigan
Harford County
Pedestrian killed in U.S. 40 accident
Aberdeen police were investigating an accident that killed a pedestrian about 1:30 p.m. yesterday.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene on U.S. 40 near Carol Avenue. Police were withholding his identity pending notification of his family.
Mary Gail Hare
Garrett County
Snowmobiles plunge into water; two hurt
McHENRY --Two people were injured when their snowmobiles hit open water on Deep Creek Lake and sank, the Maryland Natural Resources Police said.
Four snowmobiles with eight occupants were on the lake at 12:10 a.m. Sunday. A snowmobile carrying Matthew J. Laster, 26, and Anchi Pho, 27, both of Atlanta, sank, Cpl. Ken Turner of the DNR police said. Another snowmobile, ridden by Brian M. Haskell, 17, of Baltimore and Alisha A. Laster, 17, of Woodlands, Texas, also sank.
John M. Lancelotta, 40, of Westminster, who was also riding a snowmobile, was trying to help the people in the water when his snowmobile sank.
Lancelotta and Pho were hospitalized.
Associated Press