Maryland house service area

Maryland House is a service area located on Interstate 95 at Mile Marker 81.9. It is located on the median of I-95 and can be accessed by both northbound and southbound traffic. It is approximately 24 miles north of Baltimore in Harford County, Maryland. Maryland House offers food, fuel, minor auto repair services, and a traveler information center to motorists. It also offers WiFi on the premises. Maryland House is the busiest rest area in the United States.OverviewMaryland House was opened in 1963 and was renovated in 1987. Wing additions to the Maryland House facility were added in 1989 and 1990, it was entirely closed in 2012 for a total reconstruction and reopened in January 2014. The Maryland House services 2.8 million customers annually. Today, Maryland House is run by AreasUSA (company Web site). U.S. Federal law prescribes that rest areas on public (toll-free) interstate highways be maintained by the state, however the Maryland service plazas have always been exempt, allowing them to develop the Maryland House and Chesapeake House as commercial service areas. This exemption was granted due to the fact that the service areas were constructed when the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway was a toll road, and the road is still entirely maintained by the Maryland Transportation Authority as a toll road even though tolls are only collected northbound at the Perryville toll plaza and federal tax dollars have never been spent on it. Now, Maryland is responsible for the grounds, while the commercial concession owner absorbs the costs of operation. WTOP-FM says that the two commercialized rest-stops bring in $40 million per annum.