Dangerous Roads: Jones Falls Expressway
If you live on Baltimore’s north side, it’s hard to avoid driving on the Jones Falls Expressway. It’s one of the busiest north-south thoroughfares from Baltimore into Pennsylvania and has a crash rate that’s more than double the rate of other highways. Around the clock, it’s full of traffic moving at high speeds.
The city of Baltimore’s first highway; running east-west through the city and full of dangerous winding curves that spills mass amounts of traffic onto President Street every day. Unfortunately, this long stretch of elevated highway packed full of dangerous S-curves was never properly designed to accommodate interstate speeds.
In the initial planning, the Jones Falls Expressway/JFX was intended to connect and merge with interstate 83 and i-95, creating a highway much like the Baltimore (County) beltway, but one that would allow it to encircle the downtown Baltimore area. It would have cut through Fells Point and some other local cities. The devastation this would have caused resulted in the construction project being nixed and leaving this expressway abruptly ending at Fayette Street.
The JFX is the site of about 260 auto crashes per year, with an especially high rate of crashes along a curving portion of the road in north Baltimore near Hampden. Here at Zirkin & Schmerling Law, we put the JFX on our list of the most dangerous roads in Baltimore.
One Death in Two-Car Jones Falls Expressway Crash
An expressway crash cost one Baltimore resident his life in the early morning hours of May 20, 2021. The crash happened on Interstate 83, also known as the Jones Falls Expressway or JFX, which connects Baltimore to the northern part of Maryland.
In the far left northbound lane of the JFX near Ruxton Road, one SUV rammed into the rear of another SUV just before 5:15 a.m. The force of the crash pushed both vehicles off the roadway.
When state troopers arrived on the scene, they found that the male driver of one of the SUVs was already deceased. The other driver’s condition is unknown. The crash shut down the northbound lanes of the expressway for approximately three hours while the scene was investigated and cleared.
This is just the latest in a long series of deadly JFX crashes. The stretch of road is known as one of Baltimore’s most dangerous places to drive and is frequently in the news for its multi-car accidents and chain-reaction collisions.
After a severe accident on the JFX or anywhere else in Baltimore, move to safety immediately after the crash. Assess yourself for injuries, call 911, and accept medical assistance at the scene of the accident.
To protect your legal rights, it’s important not to discuss fault, admit liability, or give a statement to the insurance company until you contact a Maryland traffic accident lawyer. An experienced lawyer will help you protect the value of your claim so you can pursue the resources you need to heal and recover.
The crash described above is still under investigation, so if you were a witness to the accident and have important information, please contact the Maryland state police at 410-653-4200.