For Marylanders, talk of Bay Bridge traffic is part of any complete recap of time spent at the shore. That’s especially true of the busiest times, like the Labor Day weekend that will soon be upon us.

If not timed correctly, the rush to get one of the last beach weekends started can bring a certain gridlock. Same goes for the trip home.

To provide an idea of what to expect this year, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council created a visualization of peak traffic times from 2015.

For instance, you may be seeing red if heading across the Bay Bridge between 4-8 p.m. today.

BMC reviews traffic data routinely, but the Locust Point-based organization made up of elected officials from the region wanted to get it out to the public.

“We’re publishing this information for the first time to show the data that is available to us as the region’s metropolitan planning organization,” said Communications Officer Laura van Wert. “The big picture is to work with our region’s jurisdictions to make sure that short- and long-term projects and plans factor in traffic volume.”

Having available data to show actual traffic numbers seems especially timely on the same week that Gov. Larry Hogan proposed to study adding a third span to the Bay Bridge.


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