Icc

The Sun's article lauding the opening of the Intercounty Connector ("Drivers rejoice as ICC debuts," Nov. 23) quotes failed governor wannabe Douglas Duncan, "I think people will find it is worth it. " If anyone really believed it was worth it, they would have charged a toll that would pay for it. The Sun neglected to mention whether its readers felt the ICC was worth paying doubled tolls on the Baltimore harbor tunnels, the Bay Bridge, and the Susquehanna...

Speed-limit signs on the Intercounty Connector will be changed from 55 mph to 60 mph at the end of the week, the Maryland Transportation Authority announced Wednesday. The 18.8-mile, all-electronic toll road connects Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg to I-95 in Laurel. Weather permitting, westbound signs will be changed on Friday followed by eastbound signs on Saturday. In addition, warning signs will be added for curves. Motorists and state lawmakers have complained since the $2.56 billion highway opened in 2011 that the speed was set too low. The higher limit will shave about 90 seconds on a full-length drive, MdTA officials said.

The Maryland Transportation Authority has thrown some cold water on the idea of leasing the Intercounty Connector as a relatively pain-free way of raising money to pay for other projects - saying such deals are too complex to enter into without extensive study. In a position paper sent to the legislature, the authority does not rule out privatization deals but warns “they are not easy and should be approached prudently.” The authority's statement comes in response to a bill from a Republican delegate that would require the state to issue an invitation for bids for the ICC and the Express Toll Lanes being built on Interstate 95 by the end of the year, but it also addresses one of the ideas raised by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller in a comprehensive transportation revenue bill.   Miller has proposed a study of the merits of entering into a long-term lease of the ICC to provide near-term funds for large transportation projects.

The Maryland Transportation Authority has thrown some cold water on the idea of leasing the Intercounty Connector as a relatively pain-free way of raising money to pay for other projects - saying such deals are too complex to enter into without extensive study. In a position paper sent to the legislature, the authority does not rule out privatization deals but warns “they are not easy and should be approached prudently.” The authority's statement comes in response to a bill from a Republican delegate that would require the state to issue an invitation for bids for the ICC and the Express Toll Lanes being built on Interstate 95 by the end of the year, but it also addresses one of the ideas raised by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller in a comprehensive transportation revenue bill.   Miller has proposed a study of the merits of entering into a long-term lease of the ICC to provide near-term funds for large transportation projects.

Prince George's County Council members say officials overseeing construction of the Intercounty Connector are penalizing the county by canceling or changing more of its environmental projects than those in Montgomery County. ICC officials said they plan to cut some previously required environmental projects and to reclassify others because the highway's final design ended up sparing almost a mile more of streams and 30 more acres of wetlands and forests than they had expected, leaving less environmental damage for them to offset.

Nearly a year old, the Intercounty Connector is about $1 million ahead of toll revenue projections and gaining users at a rate of about 3 percent a month, the Maryland Transportation Authority announced Thursday morning. The all-electronic toll road runs 18 miles, connecting the Interstate 270 business corridor in Montgomery County to Interstate 95 in Prince George's County. Between July of last year and June, the end of the fiscal year, the highway has generated $19.73 million in revenue from 11.6 million trips.

The final section of the Intercounty Connector will be open by 6 a.m. Nov. 22, according to Jack Cahalan, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation. Previously, the state had not said exactly when the section would open. "The weather has played in our favor," Cahalan said. Construction on the toll road, which cost $2.6 billion, started in 2007. The ICC is currently open from Route 97 (Georgia Avenue) through Interstate 370, which feeds into Interstate 270, the main artery between Frederick and Washington.

Some of the exit signs still must be hung and guardrails installed, but other than that, Maryland's newest highway appears ready to carry its first traffic when the initial stretch of it opens next Tuesday. State transportation officials led reporters on a tour Tuesday of the 7-mile section of the Intercounty Connector between Georgia Avenue and Interstate 370 — the first leg of a toll road that in another year will connect Interstate 95 with the Interstate 270 corridor in Montgomery County.

All speed limits need periodic review ("State studies raising ICC speed limit," March 23). A rise from 55 to 60 mph on the uncontested, largely merge-free Inter-County Connector is certainly sensible. On the other hand, for the sake of safety and preservation of human life, the limit on I-97 between Annapolis and Baltimore should be reduced to 60 mph. That highway is the site of frequent serious crashes due to its congestion and various merges - and the too-high (65 mph) speed limit.

A Montgomery County official has asked the Maryland Transportation Authority to halve the "outrageous" tolls on the Intercounty Connector to boost traffic on what he calls an "underused" highway. County Councilmember Phil Andrews, a long-time ICC opponent, said in a letter Monday to the MdTA that the 18-mile, all-electronic toll road between Gaithersburg and Interstate 95 has had little effect on relieving congestion on other roads since opening one year ago. An end-to-end ride during rush hour costs $4 for a car. "MdTA foolishly assumed 'price was no object' for the general public when it set its toll rates for the ICC," Andrews wrote.

The state will be raising the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph next month on the Intercounty Connector, Maryland's first all-electronic toll road. The decision Monday by the Maryland Transportation Authority came after more than six months of study of engineering data and the 20 single-vehicle crashes that occurred in the highway's first year of operation. It also renders moot a bill filed last month by two Montgomery County lawmakers to increase the speed. State officials estimate the higher speed will shave 90 seconds off a trip from Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95 in Laurel.

Baltimore and Maryland's counties could impose their own 5-cents-a-gallon tax on gas to pay for local roads and buses under a proposal by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. Miller also proposed Thursday leasing a state toll highway to a private operator to raise money for mass-transit projects in Baltimore and the Washington suburbs. His proposal comes as lawmakers in Annapolis are struggling to find ways to raise money for transportation projects they say are long overdue.

Emergency legislation to raise the speed limit on the Intercounty Connector from 55 mph to 60 mph has been filed by two Montgomery County state senators. Democrats Jennie Forehand and Nancy King want the speed increased on the 18.8-mile toll road between Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg and Interstate 95 and U.S. 1 in Laurel to take effect immediately because it is "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health or safety. " The majority of the road opened in November 2011, and almost immediately critics demanded a speed hike.

An engineering study of the year-old Intercounty Connector has concluded that the speed limit on the highway between Gaithersburg and Laurel could be raised from 55 mph to 60 mph so long as an analysis of crash data finds no safety concerns. The accident review of the $2.5 billion all-electronic toll road is expected to be completed by the end of February, after which time the Maryland Transportation Authority will make a decision. "We said we wanted to have a year's worth of experience, and we've got that now," said Harold Bartlett, the authority's executive director.

A Montgomery County official has asked the Maryland Transportation Authority to halve the "outrageous" tolls on the Intercounty Connector to boost traffic on what he calls an "underused" highway. County Councilmember Phil Andrews, a long-time ICC opponent, said in a letter Monday to the MdTA that the 18-mile, all-electronic toll road between Gaithersburg and Interstate 95 has had little effect on relieving congestion on other roads since opening one year ago. An end-to-end ride during rush hour costs $4 for a car. "MdTA foolishly assumed 'price was no object' for the general public when it set its toll rates for the ICC," Andrews wrote.

Nearly a year old, the Intercounty Connector is about $1 million ahead of toll revenue projections and gaining users at a rate of about 3 percent a month, the Maryland Transportation Authority announced Thursday morning. The all-electronic toll road runs 18 miles, connecting the Interstate 270 business corridor in Montgomery County to Interstate 95 in Prince George's County. Between July of last year and June, the end of the fiscal year, the highway has generated $19.73 million in revenue from 11.6 million trips.

The state will be raising the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph next month on the Intercounty Connector, Maryland's first all-electronic toll road. The decision Monday by the Maryland Transportation Authority came after more than six months of study of engineering data and the 20 single-vehicle crashes that occurred in the highway's first year of operation. It also renders moot a bill filed last month by two Montgomery County lawmakers to increase the speed. State officials estimate the higher speed will shave 90 seconds off a trip from Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95 in Laurel.

Motorists won't be able to drive on the Intercounty Connector until late this year or early in 2011, but on Oct. 17, runners and walkers will be able to use it as part of a fundraising event for the Special Olympics Maryland. The state will open part of the first phase of the ICC — between Shady Grove and Georgia Avenue in Montgomery County — for a 5-kilometer walk/run that Sunday, starting at 9 a.m. According to the State Highway Administration, nearly 200 people have registered so far, bringing $6,000 in pledges.

Harford Community College, in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, is offering a course for certification as an International Code Council (ICC) residential energy inspector/plans examiner, the Harford County Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits announced. The course will be held Wednesday evenings starting Sept. 19 through Nov. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the college. The course addresses provisions in the 2012 International Residential Code (IRC)

Former Gov. Parris N. Glendening's proposal to let voters decide whether to build transportation projects ignores the long history of disconnect between the state's plans and outcomes, which cannot be resolved by a simple yes or no by voters ("Voters will support transportation projects," April 22). This goes back at least as far as the 1960s, when voters rejected a second parallel span for the Bay Bridge - and the state built it anyway. In the 1990s, even Gov. William Donald Schaefer got conned by his own Department of Transportation's promises regarding light rail.