The year 2025 marks a milestone of sorts with the massive I-81 project when all five phase one contracts are under construction.
Drivers who’ve traveled north or south on I-81 and 481, and east on I-690 in 2024 know all too well about lane restrictions and traffic backups as the various parts of the project move forward. State DOT regional director David Smith says work continues even in the winter, with some exceptions.
“With colder temperatures at night, it'll be very hard to pour concrete decks right on bridges, so we may have to suspend that until we have better weather," Smith said. "But they'll continue to set steel where we can, we'll continue a lot of earth work, noise walls, utilities.”
WAER News stopped by the Inner Harbor, where contract three is underway.
“I’m standing at the Court Street bridge over I-81. Not a lot of construction activity this holiday week. But you can see plenty has been done over the past several months," WAER's Scott Willis reported. "You can see looking to the north the Bear Street bridge has been removed. Also you can see the Spencer Street bridge to the south has also been removed as part of this project. They’re replacing those bridges, they’re widening them, adding shared use paths and sidewalks. Also part of this project, they are reconstructing a large section of North Clinton Street, adjacent to Court Street and I-81. They’ll also eventually remove and replace the Court Street bridge over the highway.”
Crews are also installing miles of noise barrier walls, especially at the northern and southern interchanges with I-481, and along 481 itself. The DOT’s David Smith says their placement is decided by analysis and feedback from property owners.
“The number of receptors, the distance from the noise wall, how sound waves carry, whether it's feasible and reasonable to put those in, that's all part of what goes into determining whether or not a certain section of roadway could benefit from a noise wall.”
Construction continues in 2025 on the contracts already underway. But Smith says new next year is contract five, which includes the section of I-81 from the Dome south. Removing the actual viaduct won’t begin until 2026 in phase two of the project.
