1957: With the Snip of a Black and Gold Ribbon, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel is Opened to Traffic

November 29, 1957

A pair of two-lane road tunnels built southeast of downtown Baltimore was officially inaugurated. These 1.4-mile (2.3-kilometer)-long tunnels, collectively known as the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, carry Interstate 895 under the Patapsco River.

Theodore McKeldin, who was governor of Maryland from 1951 to 1959, presided at the opening ceremonies for the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. “Stepping from the speakers platform before an audience estimated at 4,000, the Governor snipped a black and gold ribbon to mark the completion of Maryland’s greatest public works project,” reported Henry L. Trewhitt in the next day’s edition of the Baltimore Sun.

Other public officials on hand for these festivities included Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., who served as mayor of Baltimore between 1947 and 1959. D’Alesandro proclaimed to those in attendance, “Beyond question, the harbor tunnel will be of immense benefit to the people of Baltimore, to those in near-by communities and to many thousands who simply are passing through Baltimore.”  

The person who paid the first toll for traveling through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel was New Jersey resident Omero C. Catan. After handing toll-taker Joan Burack the required 40 cents and presenting her with a certificate he had designed for the occasion, Catan drove his flag-studded automobile into the new tunnel.

Photo Credit: Famartin (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

For more information on the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, please check out https://mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Facilities/BHT.html and https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-dedication-of-harbor-tun/45828572/