Posted on 10/01/2013 1:48:42 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Driven on the Intercounty Connector lately? No? Youre not alone. Many havent.
The 18.8-mile highwaythe first stretch of which opened two and a half years ago after great hype and amid great controversyis the road less traveled. Traffic counts are well below early projections, and revenue from tollsneeded to pay off the bonds that were sold to build the roadis far less than originally anticipated.
The initial estimated cost of $1 billion has ballooned to $2.4 billionor as much as $4 billion if you include interest payments. Consequently, all tolls on Maryland highways, bridges and tunnels have been raised in part to help pay for the ICC. Every driver who passes through the two Baltimore harbor tunnels, goes over the Francis Scott Key, Chesapeake Bay or Harry Nice bridges, or speeds along the John F. Kennedy portion of Interstate 95 north of Baltimore is helping to pay for the highway, which currently extends from the I-370 spur off I-270 to I-95. (Eventually it will continue as a four-lane road another nine-tenths of a mile east to U.S. Route 1, with the last sections completion scheduled for July 2014.)
Meanwhile, $180 million is coming out of the states Transportation Trust Fund to pay bondholdersmoney that critics say could otherwise be spent on mass transit, such as the Purple Line or the up-county Corridor Cities Transitway, and on improvements to secondary roads and intersections. At the same time, Maryland has committed future federal funds to make payments to ICC bondholders.
(Excerpt) Read more at bethesdamagazine.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
I’ve used the connector a couple of times. It is great. I was worried about the double occupancy; hoping it was only enforced during rush hours. No problem so far. The $2.00 toll is cheap compared to having to deal with the Wash DC beltway.
The ICC does not have an HOV requirement.
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HOV lanes are failures and should become a civil disobedience target. I’ve used them for years myself, I no longer care. Most the cars in those lanes are multi-occupant on their own and car-pooling has nothing to do with their usage.
I lived in D.C. in the mid 60s but am no longer familiar with the geography of the area but do remember traveling between D.C. and Baltimore from time to time and it was a slow moving parking lot of a highway between those two cities even back then.
I don’t remember the highway number.
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Nobody uses it and yet we all get to pay extra tunnel and bridge tolls to cover the cost. Someone from SHA told me that personally. Get ready, cause the I-95 toll lanes open next year. I predict total surprise that few people are using it.
Bonds aren’t a great idea in a downturn.
There are three main highways between DC and Baltimore: MD Route 29, Interstate I-95, or Route 1.
Other than the B-W Parkway — oops!
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