Rommey
Well-Known Member
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I think its past due since there are so few options for traveling those corridors and the alternates are just as jammed, and opponents are already lining up to complain about the feeder roads getting congested. Too late, those roads are already crowded and if the main road could handle more cars efficiently, then maybe that will ease the congestion on the side roads.
I think a public/private venture is a smart way to go, but my concern would be their toll fare structure. The ICC charges $0.22 per mile during peak period (which works out to $3.86 for the entire 18-mile trip. The BW Parkway is about 15 miles so if they kept the same rate it would cost you $3.22. The I270 corridor is 30 miles so expect to shell out $6.60 each way. For comparison the Atlantic City Expressway is about 45 miles long and its only $3.75 ($2.43 with an EZ Pass) and the New Jersey Turnpike is about 122 miles and its $13.85 ($10.40 with and EZ Pass). Meanwhile the I95/495 toll lanes on Virginia's Beltway charge a low of $0.20 per mile up to $1 per mile depending on volume.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday proposed a $9 billion plan to add express toll lanes to the routes of three of Maryland’s most congested highways — the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway, the I-270 spur connecting Frederick to D.C., and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway between the two cities.
“This problem has been marring the quality of life of Maryland citizens for decades,” Hogan said at a news conference. “Today, we are finally going to do something about it.”
The highway expansions would add two express toll lanes each way to roughly 100 miles of roadways in Maryland’s densely populated central region. Existing lanes on each road would remain free to drivers.
The massive undertaking involves persuading the federal government to give the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, now controlled by the National Park Service, to the Maryland Transportation Authority.
The price tag for the Baltimore-Washington Parkway would be $1.4 billion. It’s dwarfed by the size of the combined $7.6 billion project to widen I-495 and I-270. Those new lanes would be built and maintained by private companies through public-private partnerships, or PPPs, in what the governor said would be the largest highway public-private partnerships in North America.
I think its past due since there are so few options for traveling those corridors and the alternates are just as jammed, and opponents are already lining up to complain about the feeder roads getting congested. Too late, those roads are already crowded and if the main road could handle more cars efficiently, then maybe that will ease the congestion on the side roads.
I think a public/private venture is a smart way to go, but my concern would be their toll fare structure. The ICC charges $0.22 per mile during peak period (which works out to $3.86 for the entire 18-mile trip. The BW Parkway is about 15 miles so if they kept the same rate it would cost you $3.22. The I270 corridor is 30 miles so expect to shell out $6.60 each way. For comparison the Atlantic City Expressway is about 45 miles long and its only $3.75 ($2.43 with an EZ Pass) and the New Jersey Turnpike is about 122 miles and its $13.85 ($10.40 with and EZ Pass). Meanwhile the I95/495 toll lanes on Virginia's Beltway charge a low of $0.20 per mile up to $1 per mile depending on volume.