Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Weather permitting, officials will change posted limits on Friday and Saturday.
State transportation officials are set to change signs on the Intercounty Connector (MD-200) this weekend to officially increase the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph. Weather permitting, westbound signs will be changed Friday and eastbound signs Saturday, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. Officials said new warning signs for curves have also been added to the highway, which runs between I-270 and I-95 through Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The MDTA elected to raise the speed limit this past winter following engineering studies and crash analysis based the ICC’s first year of operations. “We needed one year of ICC operations and full consideration of the design speed and geometry of the roadway to ensure that a …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The change will likely take effect on March 31.
The speed limit on the Intercounty Connector is going up, the Maryland Transportation Authority announced Monday. The ICC's speed limit will receive a 5 mph boost, to 60 from 55, according to the MDTA. The increase, likely effective on March 31, comes after an MDTA engineering study and crash analysis. With the crash analysis, traffic engineers examined vehicular crashes for the ICC’s first year of operations between I-270 and I-95. The analysis helped the MDTA confirm that the speed limit may be safely raised to 60 mph. “This is a win for everyone and will certainly please the growing number of drivers who regularly travel the ICC,” Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville said in a statement. “I appreciate the [MDTA] stepping …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
A House bill that would raise the maximum speed limit on interstates and expressways statewide from 65 to 70 mph will be introduced during the current General Assembly session, The Gazette reports.
A House bill co-sponsored by Del. Aruna Miller (D-Dist. 15) of Darnestown and Del. Neil Parrott (R-Dist. 2B) of Hagerstown could force a change in the speed limit on the Intercounty Connector, according to a report by The Gazette. The bill would raise the maximum speed limit on interstates and expressways statewide from 65 to 70 mph, according to the report, and automatically increase the ICC's speed limit from 55 to 70. Miller cited three reasons the change is necessary. “One, the posted speed limit is way too low,” she said, according to the report. “Two, the toll is way too high. And three, the enforcement is excessive.” A separate bill by Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville, would raise the speed limit on the ICC to 60, …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Changes affect bus routes and numbers serving Rockville's periphery.
Ride On bus riders take note: Routes and bus number changes went into effect Sunday. The changes mean some communities around Rockville will be better served, but also mean longer rides on some routes and the elimination of others as the county tries to better serve new locations. Expanded routes include daily service to Park Potomac, Seven Locks Road, Interstate 270 and Montrose Road. The changes, effective Sunday, are part of a larger expansion of Ride On routes across the county. Southwest of Rockville's city limits, a new route, Route 42, will run between the White Flint Metro station and Westfield Montgomery, with service to the Park Potomac mixed-use development at Seven Locks and Montrose roads. Route 47 also now follows its …
Friday, December 21, 2012
Highway officials will analyze crash data on the Intercounty Connector before increasing the speed limit, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Those clamoring for an increase in the Intercounter Connector's 55 mph speed limit may have some positive news on the horizon. An engineering study of the ICC has concluded that the speed of the highway can safely be raised to 60 mph, pending an analysis of crash data, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday. The accident review of the toll road is expected to be completed by the end of February, at which point the Maryland Transportation Authority will make a decision on the speed limit, according to the report. The highway — designed for speeds up to 60 mph — has yet to see a fatality and MdTA Police have recorded just 20 single-vehicle accidents, according to the report. Earlier in December, Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews proposes a cut in ICC tolls to get more drivers to use the road, NBC Washington reports.
Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews says a deep cut in tolls would increase traffic on the Intercounty Connector and he's calling on the state to do it, NBC Washington reported. Andrews says the $8 round-trip rush-hour toll is among the highest in the nation. He would propose "at least a trial period of several months, if not, a year when the tolls would be...cut in half, in hopes of doubling the traffic," according to the report. A decision on the toll rate is up to the Maryland Transportation Authority. A spokeswoman for the MTA told The Washington Post the ICC is meeting both traffic and revenue projections. The road was designed to carry traffic volumes projected for 2030, according to the report. Andrews said he hopes that …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Crews will be repairing hairline cracks on bridges spanning the central portion of the Intercounty Connector.
Repairing fissures in three bridges along the Intercounty Connector may cause temporary road closures between Norbeck Road and New Hampshire Avenue beginning this week, the State Highway Administration announced. Patch reported that hairline cracks were found in 10 bridges along the toll road of more than 17 miles: SHA has completed work on four of the bridges. Officials estimate construction should be complete this winter. Expect shoulder closures and temporary traffic signs, traffic barrels, cones, crash cushions and the concrete barriers used to designate the shoulder closures, SHA said. The bridges will stay open and the shoulder closures should cause “minimal impact” to drivers, the agency said in a statement. 'Like' Rockville Patch …
One contractor disputes that the company is at fault.
Engineers for Maryland's most high-tech highway are nearly half way to mending hairline fractures found in 10 of the bridges that carry the Intercounty Connector between Gaithersburg and Laurel. Repair work has wrapped up on four of those bridges and is set to start this week on three more. But who’s to blame for cracks at two other bridges remains at question. The contractor who designed those bridges is disputing the state’s assessment that the cracks are the contractor's fault. The ICC’s western third opened in February 2011 amid a flurry of both fanfare and skepticism. Eight months later, inspectors found cracks in three bridges along that 7.2-mile stretch—known as “Contract A”—in the ICC’s “pier caps,” the concrete structures …
Monday, September 10, 2012
A spokesperson for the road says it's still safe.
Maryland's newest state highway is already in trouble. Two bridges that carry Intercounty Connector drivers through East Montgomery County have cracks, state inspectors have found. The ramp near Route 29 and bridge over Route 29 and Briggs Chaney Road have cracks, WTOP reports. A spokesperson for the ICC said the bridges are safe, despite the fissures, which he said impact durability. Independent contractors will foot the bill to repair the bridges. See everything we've written about the Intercounty Connector. Last October, three cracks were found in the road's interchanges at Needwood Road, Emory Lane and Georgia Avenue. The road that stretches from Gaithersburg to Laurel cost the state about $2.56 billion. The eastern portion, from …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Expect periodic closures between Georgia Avenue and Needwood Road this week.
Expect temporary delays due to periodic closures if you're traveling the Intercounty Connector near Rockville in the early morning hours over the next two nights. Road crews will close the entire span of the roadway between Georgia Avenue and Needwood Road periodically and for 20 minutes at a time between midnight and 5 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a news release from the State Highway Administration. The work, and closures, may be canceled in the event of rain. During the closures, eastbound traffic will be allowed to enter the ICC at the I-370/Metro Access interchange, the release said. Flagpersons will stop traffic before the first toll gantry in order to prevent motorists from being double-billed for one trip. Westbound …
Duke Ganote
6:09 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Mr. Flaharty, whipping up a frothy lather about speed limits -- on the ICC or other freeways -- which shows DANGEROUS IGNORANCE. Maryland's rural interstate fatality rate in 2009 was 0.06 -- FAR FAR lower that the all-road rate of 1.07 deaths per 100 million travel miles. Why? Simple physics! Traffic engineers very effectively adapt roads for higher speeds by eliminating opposing traffic, … more ›