12-05-2022 4:00am

33RD YEAR TO

Jeff Barto Editor

Join the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Police, MDTA staff and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves next week for the 2022 Toys for Tots campaign. This is the 33rd consecutive year the MDTA Police have supported the annual effort.

In Baltimore, MDTA officers will collect new, unwrapped toys Tuesday, December 6 through Thursday, December 8, from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Baltimore Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels (I-895, I-95), the Francis Scott Key Bridge (I-695) and the Dundalk Marine Terminal. Officers also will collect toys at sites across Maryland including the Bay Bridge (US 50/301), the Gov. Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge (US 301), the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge (US 40) and the Intercounty Connector (MD 200).*

Toll facility customers who wish to donate toys should stay right and follow directions from Santa, uniformed MDTA police officers and MDTA staff. Sites at the Bay, Key, Hatem and Nice/Middleton bridges will be near the former toll plaza locations. The MDTA Police remind drivers to keep safety in mind as they approach toy drop-off sites. Toys may be dropped off during scheduled times only.

Since 1990, MDTA employees have collected more than 169,000 toys and $142,000 from generous customers of Maryland’s toll facilities and the Port of Baltimore.

*Toy collections at the Intercounty Connector (MD 200) will take place at the Layhill Road (MD 182) interchange.

The Maryland Transportation Authority Police, a nationally accredited force, is the eighth-largest law enforcement agency in the State with more than 500 sworn and civilian law enforcement professionals. MDTA Police Officers provide law enforcement services at the MDTA’s highways, bridges and tunnels, at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and at the Port of Baltimore.