Baltimore drivers face costly delays as I-83 overhaul remains unfunded
Jo Anne Stull says I-83 has already cost her three flat tires and two rims. City officials now say a full JFX rebuild has no money and no timeline.
The Jones Falls Expressway keeps handing Baltimore drivers a bill, and city officials are not offering relief anytime soon. Jo Anne Stull of Federal Hill said potholes on I-83 have already left her with three flat tires and two damaged rims, along with missed events and time lost on the shoulder. Another driver, Paul Petrov, described the same pattern after hitting potholes on the roadway.
Baltimore’s transportation director, Veronica McBeth, said the city does not have the money to rebuild the expressway. “We don't have current funding mechanisms to reconcrete, essentially the JFX... it wasn't or isn't on our repave programming right now,” McBeth said. The message to commuters is blunt: no funding, no timeline, and for now, no full overhaul.
That matters because Baltimore City is responsible for the corridor. The city says it manages about 2,000 miles of roads, 7 miles of highways and hundreds of bridges, and that the segment of I-83 inside city limits, the Jones Falls Expressway, is owned and maintained by Baltimore. Built along the tight turns of the Jones Falls River, the route was designed in a way that makes it winding and risky at high speeds, which turns every unrepaired pothole into a bigger safety problem for daily drivers.
The city is trying to blunt some of that risk in smaller ways. Baltimore has installed automated speed enforcement cameras on the JFX at locations where speeding and crashes are common, and city officials say those cameras are part of an effort to cut collisions while structural repairs lag. But those safety measures do not fix the pavement, and WMAR’s follow-up coverage said only spot repairs are expected for now, with no repaving scheduled this year.
McBeth, appointed in January 2025, has been steering the department toward streets in the worst condition. Baltimore’s Repave Baltimore program says road conditions, community requests and planned projects all factor into resurfacing decisions, and in May 2025 Mayor Brandon Scott and McBeth announced nearly 110 lane miles for the city’s 2025 paving season through Operation Orange Cone. That helps explain why more visible city streets are getting attention while the JFX waits.
Scott said in April it would cost about $300 million just to bring the expressway to an acceptable condition. For commuters who rely on I-83 every day to reach downtown, move through the city and connect to regional routes, the economics are already clear: until Baltimore finds a funding source, the damage will keep showing up in tow bills, tire shops, traffic backups and drivers’ nerves.
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