to have a very cold start and we are dealing with a crash in baltimore county at dundalk on merritt boulevard at wise avenue. traveling on the beltway in the area, no delays whatsoever as we look live south of brunning highway no problems getting across the key bridge. outer loop will remain nice and clear as you push from 95 to 83. that stretch had take you the normal 11 minutes and looking at the other abc2 timesaver traffic drive times, the jfx will be clear heading downtown. just 11 minutes southbound from the beltway to east fayette street and everything is up to speed through the fort mchenry tunnel. an 8-minute ride northbound on 95 from the beltway to the toll plaza. that's a look at your morning commute. megan over to you. >>> it was not too long ago 't term fiscal cliff. now the term is sequestration and get used to it because we will hear a lot of it until march 1st. abc2 news linda so is live with what it means for you. and people want to know what it means to them? how will it affect them. >> reporter: well if it happens, it's going to affect people in many ways. drastic cuts can

a problem spot in dundalk get wise and merritt boulevard. otherwise looking good on the major roadways. 10 minutes on 95 northbound. 80. .n 895 between the 95's no problems on the inner core outer loop is. southbound traffic into the tunnel. northbound traffic looking good. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> you will not find many people out on the roads today. >> congress begins a week-long vacation today. george lettis joins us with more. >> big spending cuts will hit the country on march 1 without a deal. airs a movement that has begun. a massive fiscal crisis, the economy hanging in the balance. what this congress doing? taking a break for presidents day. >> congress gets off one week for every federal holiday, a august.n a government watchdogs say government is not getting the job done. david walker has launched the no deal no break campaign. no deal to address the fiscal challenges. no break for members of congress. >> it is time to focus full-time on trying to defuse our ticking time bomb. >> democrats blame republicans. repub

merritt channel to reconnect the lake to the bay. >> we moved the culvert, dams and 12-lane mini freeway and replaced it with a six lane boulevard andse it's a bridge boats can go by and wildlife can flow and so can the tide dal flows. >> reporter: this phase is $47 million and the completed project is projected to cost nearly $200 million over the next 10 years. folks in oakland are looking forward to the return of the good old days. >> there was a time when people and the brothers were coming down here with their drums, you could hear the drums all over the city. >> reporter: lake merritt's history hasn't always been pristine. >> they pulled a dead body out one time. >> in the '90s it was way smellier and murky. >> looks better now. >> yeah. >> we are more than just a negative. okay? that there is and there are positive things going on in oakland and that we should try to highlight that. >> reporter: there's a new tidal marsh too but there's more work to be done like removing additional ancient art pictures like this. but the lake is cleaner now than it has ever been. even more good news. the bid to remove this next giant obstacle