 |
| Will the ICC be a success or a flop? We won't know for at least a year. |
The Washington Post published this article about the Intercounty Connector (ICC) highway's upcoming opening on November 22, 2011, with serious questions about the new highway's future prospects.
Will enough drivers use the ICC to make it successful and help the State of Maryland amortize the highway's construction costs and recoup its investments and pay for future maintenance costs? Or will the new highway be a major flop since people are driving less these days due to the economic downturn and high gas prices?
Will the new highway be able to alleviate traffic congestion on local roads? Or will it induce more traffic congestion as usually occurs when new highways are built or new lanes are added to existing roads?.
And will the ICC have a deleterious impact on the environment? We won't have the answers until the new highway has been open for at least a year.
These questions aside, the Washington Post pointed out that during the free no-toll period on the ICC highway from Tuesday, November 22, 2011, through Sunday, December 04, 2011, any driver using the ICC wiithout an E-Z Transponder will receive a notice in the mail urging them to buy one.
Also, for those wondering how much it would cost to travel on the ICC highway once the tolls kick in on Monday, December 05, 2011, passenger vehicles pay 25 cents per mile at peak hours, 20 cents per mile during off-peak, and 10 cents per mile during overnight hours.
For a passenger vehicle traveling the ICC from end-to-end (17.5 miles) during peak hours (25 cents per mile), the toll would cost $4.00.
Full article available after the jump:
With the November 2011 opening of ICC, motorists will discover whether the toll road was worth the wait
By Ashley Halsey III,
Loved or loathed, needed or not, the Intercounty Connector toll road is scheduled to open two days before
Thanksgiving and several weeks ahead of schedule.
The opening of the road that will link Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg and Interstate 95 in Laurel will help settle one of the longest-running debates in the region’s transportation history: Will the $2.56 billion road alleviate congestion or create more by inviting more suburban sprawl?
After decades of acrimony that has involved transportation planners, developers, smart-growth proponents, residents, environmentalists and champions of mass transit, it’s unlikely that the most strident advocates will find consensus on the effect of the highway.
That question will be answered by drivers and the people who live there.
Motorists will get first crack at a new 10.35 miles of the ICC — 7.2 miles opened in February — on Nov. 22, and they will be able to traverse it for free before tolls take effect Dec. 5.
“One of the things we had hoped for was to be open before Thanksgiving weekend,” said Harold M. Bartlett, executive secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority. “It’s one of the biggest travel days of the year.”
The new portion of the highway had been projected to open by year’s end or early in 2012. Bartlett said that despite a fair amount of rain this year, construction kept pace and good management got the job done ahead of schedule.
“I can’t think of any other major highway in the country that has opened on time and on budget,” he said.
A final spur that would connect I-95 with U.S. Route 1 in Prince George’s County remains to be built.
Bartlett said he would be better able to set a completion date for the last segment by the end of the year. “We’re reasonably confident that we’ll be able to do that . . . and inside the funding envelope for the highway,” he said.
The ICC is a toll road without tollbooths.
The passage of each car is recorded electronically, primarily through the use of E-ZPasses. For vehicles without an E-ZPass, a camera records the license plate number and the toll charge arrives in the mail with a service fee. Now, vehicles without E-ZPasses are charged an extra $3, but that will be replaced by Tuesday with a statewide “video toll rate,” which will be 150 percent of the base fee, part of a package of toll changes throughout the state.
“We’re trying to strongly encourage people to get an E-ZPass,” Bartlett said. Although no tolls will be charged from Nov. 22 to Dec. 4, drivers who use the ICC without an E-ZPass will receive a notice in the mail urging them to get one.
The ICC uses variable-priced tolling, charging different rates to cover the same distance, depending on the time of day. Under the three-tiered program, passenger vehicles pay 25 cents per mile at peak hours, 20 cents per mile during off-peak and 10 cents per mile during overnight hours.
Signs posted at entrances to the highway alert drivers about which tolling period is in effect.
Bartlett said the toll would be $4 for a passenger vehicle to travel the ICC from end to end during peak hours.
The origin of the six-lane highway traces to the mid-20th century, when the Capital Beltway was being completed and planners envisioned a second outer ring of superhighway around Washington. They thought most of it would be finished by 1970.
But the proposal drew powerful opposition from environmentalists and residents who feared it would pollute the air and streams and eventually cause more congestion by encouraging development.
The right of way for much of the highway was bought before the surrounding area was developed, so construction didn’t require razing as many homes as might have been the case in more densely settled suburbs.
The new highway is little more than half as long as the one promised in 1958, which was to sweep in a 32-mile arc from just north of Potomac to Bowie.
Staff writer Katherine Shaver contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/commuting/with-next-months-opening-of-icc-motorists-will-discover-whether-the-toll-road-was-worth-the-wait/2011/10/28/gIQAWTHaQM_story.html
READER COMMENTS:
It's too bad that MD didn't build a high speed rail line in the median of the ICC -- or at least make provisions for one. With some extensions, Metro could have intersected with an ICC rail line, e.g., an extension from Shady Grove station to an ICC rail line, thus, providing cross county commuting.
I Wished EZ Pass people would stop charging my account $1.50 per month. I rarely use EZ Pass and kept it for occasional trips. I get my statement online so there is no postage fee, etc...
I think this is an ANTI ENVIRONMENTAL policy. This is encouraging people like me to return their EZ pass and wait in the big lines at the toll booths polluting the environment.
I am sure they could devise a conditional monthly Fee system, where people like me only get charged the monthly fees when I actually use the EZ pass.
I think this is an ANTI ENVIRONMENTAL policy. This is encouraging people like me to return their EZ pass and wait in the big lines at the toll booths polluting the environment.
I am sure they could devise a conditional monthly Fee system, where people like me only get charged the monthly fees when I actually use the EZ pass.
I live in Rockville and if I need to head north on 95, I will most likely take the ICC every time. The traffic on 495 between 270 and 95 is bad almost every time of the day every day of the week. Last night I was stuck on 95/495 traffic coming home and would have loved to take the ICC.
"With next month’s opening of ICC, motorists will discover whether the toll road was worth the wait"
At $6 million per mile in spending alone for "environmental" pet projects, for a total of $110 million, let's hope so.
Otherwise it's just one another Environmental boondoggle like the Sylandra debacle.
My bet it's a boondoggle.
At $6 million per mile in spending alone for "environmental" pet projects, for a total of $110 million, let's hope so.
Otherwise it's just one another Environmental boondoggle like the Sylandra debacle.
My bet it's a boondoggle.
Hey, come ride the road that we pay for twice - once with our taxes and again when you ride it and pay for it with your EZ pass. And who makes money from the EZ pass? Most of it goes to the corporation that owns the thing, not to our local government that badly needs money to pay our bills for essential services. If you ride the thing without an EZ pass you will get billed in the mail and if you forget to pay you will get billed a whole lot more. This road needs toll booths - at least, and not the exclusive, monopoly deal for EZ pass. What a public screwing!
The freeway would have been a lot more useful had it connected with MD 32, which was the original plan, since 32 continues all the way past Fort Meade (BRAC traffic, anyone?) and on to I-97 & MD 3 for Annapolis & Bowie. Instead, someone decided to hijack it and make it into an economic development tool for PG County, and dead end it in Laurel. I am sure that 10 or 20 years from now, the ICC will have tons of traffic on it, but remember, even the Dulles Greenway went bankrupt before people finally started using it. I think the same will happen with the ICC.
I see the ICC as a way for travelers coming from the west to avoid the Beltway en route to I-95 (and vice versa). I don't know what type of impact it's going to have on easing commutes on 270 or the Beltway, but if I see it eventually becoming something similar to the Dulles Toll Road - a nightmare.
Something's wrong with somebody's numbers here. The Post's reporter says the top toll of ICC will be 25 cents a mile. But if you add up the two segment's the article talks about, that comes to 17.55 miles. At 25 cents a mile, that comes to $4.39 one way. But Mr. Bartlett of the ICC says it will cost only $4 one-way. Is he off on his arithmetic, or is there some special discount that lowers the price, or is the Post's report of 25 cents a mile inaccurate. By the way, you may be interested to know that the toll on the Jersey Turnpike, is a little more than 7 cents a mile, by contrast (car toll $9.05 for 122 miles). So the ICC's top toll is three times as much. Is that progress? I plan to avoid the ICC entirely. I hope enough other people will too so that the toll comes way down.
No, but it will get those 18-wheelers off two-lane local roads like 108, Muncaster and Muncaster Mill Road. They are so huge they pay no attention to which side of the double yellow line they're driving on. Since the 'shoulder' is about 3-4 inches of macadam beyond the right lane marker, opposing cars are almost driven into ditches, fields, front yards to avoid them. That's the point of the ICC. To make the local roads better for local traffic.
I remember when I'd drive the Old PA Route100 to Older US1 all the way thru Baltimore and then to Foggy Bottom and a stay at the Sheraton. Passing the old barns, secondary growth and occasional oncoming headlights of gay federal prosecuting attorneys and DC staffers heading to Lancaster County for a well deserved hoot. Yeah, those were the days. Now all that's left is a too busy pharmacy on Jerusalem Way where Swedenborg saw the New Jerusalem descend from heaven. The Masonic mortuary now commanding that view shows just how far it descended.
Local toll roads benefit corporate coffers at the expense of those who use them. Those local limited access roads benefit everyone in the area whether they drive or not. They should always be built and maintained with tax dollars. Thru highways are another matter as the greatest value is to those just passing through.
Toll roads are grossly overrated and their true costs to the taxpayer are carefully hidden. Remember the owners of a toll road receive profits, both from their construction and their maintenance. Government roads do not provide profits and are built and maintained at what the government costs are.
Toll roads are grossly overrated and their true costs to the taxpayer are carefully hidden. Remember the owners of a toll road receive profits, both from their construction and their maintenance. Government roads do not provide profits and are built and maintained at what the government costs are.
Let's hope they raise the speed limit from an unreasonable 55 mph to the standard 65 mph for straight, far line of sight highways like I-95. And then let's hope that the civilian vehicles outnumber the police cars ready to ticket. Last time I took the ICC at 4:30, there were 10 cars on it--6 civilians and 4 police cars! Surely that's a cop to commuter ratio that could be better spent on dealing with crime elsewhere.
Time-of-day and toll rates are found here:
http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/ICC/Toll_Rates.html
No trucks.
http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/ICC/Toll_Rates.html
No trucks.
The funding for the ICC was special bonds through MDTA. Common misconception that the tax money collected for transportation was used for ICC. The fact is the money collected for transportation has been stolen by the democrats to buy votes through social programs that have nothing to do with infrastructure.
And that's why the tolls are rising on the Bay Bridge (Eastern Shore's lifeline) and the Baltimore tunnels (the whole Northeast's lifeline to the agricultural Southeast) that are part of MDTA. Double-and a-half tolls without an EZ-Pass ($21 + $1.50/month) means little casual use, just a few 1% commuters. What happens in the future when they realize what a white elephant the ICC is? And what happens when the inflated expectations of congestion and pollution relief fail to materialize? Who was the politician that came up with this idea? I want to donate to his opponent's campaign!
· 
Gerholdt, it was Bob Ehrlich who resurrected the ICC from the ashes. O'Malley then rubber-stamped it.
We had East West Highway as an intercounty connector
We had University Blvd. as an intercounty connector.
We had the Beltway as an intercounty connector.
Why does anyone think this new intercounty connector will be any more successful than the previous intercounty connectors? It is just another road to open up once virgin and farmland for real estate development. Look at the pathway and you can see many new housing developments already sprouting up or planned. More runoff into the Chesapeake. Yes, our politicians give lip service to saving the Chesapeake, but getting their pockets lined by real estate interests is what they really care about.
Just pave the entire state of Maryland and be done with it, because that is where we are heading.
We had University Blvd. as an intercounty connector.
We had the Beltway as an intercounty connector.
Why does anyone think this new intercounty connector will be any more successful than the previous intercounty connectors? It is just another road to open up once virgin and farmland for real estate development. Look at the pathway and you can see many new housing developments already sprouting up or planned. More runoff into the Chesapeake. Yes, our politicians give lip service to saving the Chesapeake, but getting their pockets lined by real estate interests is what they really care about.
Just pave the entire state of Maryland and be done with it, because that is where we are heading.
@grantpaten,
"We had East West Highway as an intercounty connector"
Use is over capacity. Road is congested. Cannot be expanded. Obselete as a long-distance connector.
"We had University Blvd. as an intercounty connector.
Use is over capacity. Road is congested. Cannot be expanded.
"We had the Beltway as an intercounty connector."
Use is over capacity. Road is congested. Cannot be expanded.
And every one of those roads were built 40 or more years ago. The area's population has grown significantly since then.
Face it. Infrastructure eventually becomes indequate and/or obselete. "Alternatives" and "other choices" don't always suffice. Sometimes we need to bite the bullet and implement a SOLUTION. The ICC is a solution.
"We had East West Highway as an intercounty connector"
Use is over capacity. Road is congested. Cannot be expanded. Obselete as a long-distance connector.
"We had University Blvd. as an intercounty connector.
Use is over capacity. Road is congested. Cannot be expanded.
"We had the Beltway as an intercounty connector."
Use is over capacity. Road is congested. Cannot be expanded.
And every one of those roads were built 40 or more years ago. The area's population has grown significantly since then.
Face it. Infrastructure eventually becomes indequate and/or obselete. "Alternatives" and "other choices" don't always suffice. Sometimes we need to bite the bullet and implement a SOLUTION. The ICC is a solution.
No comments:
Post a Comment