ICC Intercounty Connector

[cpzilliacus]

With the extension of the ICC to Interstate 95, what is the status of the c/d roadways to be built along Interstate 95? Looking at aerials, I see graded areas stubbing out just north of the MD-200 interchange, but no earth turned northward to MD-198. Is this work now pushed back to a later phase or onto a separate project?

It's "deferred" indefinitely (Contract D).  The ICC will probably be extended first (Contract E) past I-95, to at least Virginia Manor Rd. and maybe all the way to US 1.  http://www.iccproject.com/project-area.php

I respectfully disagree.  ICC Contract D (I-95 C-D roadways north of ICC) and Contract E (ICC from I-95 to U.S. 1) have merged into one construction contract to be let in the near future, with completion scheduled for 2014.
Post Merge: November 28, 2011, 09:08:06 PM

With the extension of the ICC to Interstate 95, what is the status of the c/d roadways to be built along Interstate 95? Looking at aerials, I see graded areas stubbing out just north of the MD-200 interchange, but no earth turned northward to MD-198. Is this work now pushed back to a later phase or onto a separate project?

What you see is preliminary work for ICC Contract D/E (they were merged), though I don't think that a winning bidder for Contract D/E has been announced yet.

[cpzilliacus]

Blog posting via Washington Post: The unofficial outer beltway

[froggie]

After that, E-ZPass will be required. Drivers who do not use E-ZPass will receive a bill by mail for 150 percent of the original toll.

I get that they want to charge a fee for non-E-ZPass users, and as long as it's reasonable, I have no problem with that.

But shouldn't it be just a flat fee, and not a percent of the toll?
I mean, whether it's a $2 toll (which would result in a $1 fee), or a $7 toll ($3.50 fee), isn't the "cost" to administer the fee going to be the same? 
Is the postage higher to mail the $7 toll than a $2 toll?
Do they need to use more paper for a higher toll?  A bigger envelope?  A different system (cameras, computers & that)?

If the at-cost of non-transponder collection is the same whether you travel the distance for a $2 toll, or $7, there is no excuse to collect an extra $2 just for driving more.

The current (new) percentage-based system is actually an improvement for the most part over what they had previously in place.  Beforehand, it was a flat $3 charge.  With the new percentage-based system, the only tolls for regular cars that matches the level of the old system are the Susquehanna crossing tolls (I-95 and US40).  All others have a net lower non-EZPass fee.

[NE2]

Blog posting via Washington Post: The unofficial outer beltway

SR 28 is mislabeled (it should be freeway, except near I-66).

[treichard]

On I-270 SB approaching I-370, there is a variable sign showing the current EZPass toll rate to get to two highways via I-370 and MD 200.  So you can see before entering I-370 how much it will cost to use MD 200 all the way to I-95 or part way to [another highway I couldn't read in time].

I wished for all 16 miles of MD 200 that the speed limit would have been 65 instead of 55.  But the low traffic level was a relief after dealing with I-270 traffic from Frederick at dusk on an (abnormal?) Sunday. I had given up on the I-270 SB jam as soon as I reached MD 85, checked out the curious "one sign is still enough" Business MD 355 in Urbana, and rejoined I-270 at MD 109.

From the EB-to-NB on-ramp at the MD 200 & I-95 interchange, one can see the completed (but closed) NB C/D lanes: lane striping, covered BGSs on a sign bridge, and all.  But I couldn't see where those lanes ended as a stub.  

[Beltway]

On I-270 SB approaching I-370, there is a variable sign showing the current EZPass toll rate to get to two highways via I-370 and MD 200.  So you can see before entering I-370 how much it will cost to use MD 200 all the way to I-95 or part way to [another highway I couldn't read in time].

It read $0.00 when I went through there on Thanksgiving Day!  Nice to have no tolls for a few more days...

[froggie]

On I-270 SB approaching I-370, there is a variable sign showing the current EZPass toll rate to get to two highways via I-370 and MD 200.  So you can see before entering I-370 how much it will cost to use MD 200 all the way to I-95 or part way to [another highway I couldn't read in time].

Georgia Ave/MD 97, IIRC.

From the EB-to-NB on-ramp at the MD 200 & I-95 interchange, one can see the completed (but closed) NB C/D lanes: lane striping, covered BGSs on a sign bridge, and all.  But I couldn't see where those lanes ended as a stub.

The C/D roads end just past the point where the flyover ramp touches down.  It's weird seeing fully signed and striped C/D lanes just abruptly stop like that.

[cpzilliacus]

From the EB-to-NB on-ramp at the MD 200 & I-95 interchange, one can see the completed (but closed) NB C/D lanes: lane striping, covered BGSs on a sign bridge, and all.  But I couldn't see where those lanes ended as a stub.

The C/D roads end just past the point where the flyover ramp touches down.  It's weird seeing fully signed and striped C/D lanes just abruptly stop like that.

They will be extended north to Md. 198 as part of Contract D/E, along with a new interchange between I-95 (C-D lanes only) and Contee Road Extended (what is now marked as Van Dusen Road).  The developer of Konterra is paying some of the costs associated with the new interchange at Contee Road.

[Duke87]

It read $0.00 when I went through there on Thanksgiving Day!  Nice to have no tolls for a few more days...

Yeah... it's weird, actually. On my statement I have three charges for $0.00. One with both entrance and exit listed with the code "I10" (and the same timestamp, 09:02:37), one with both entrance and exit listed with the code "I08" (also same timestamp, 09:04:34), and one with the entrance listed as "I06" and the exit listed as "I02" (with timestamps 09:07:08 and 09:11:40, 4 minutes and 32 seconds apart). What's up with that? I assume the codes are all even numbers since the odd numbers are for eastbound while I was driving westbound, but then why did it skip "I04"? There are five toll "booths", so did one somehow miss reading me? Or are the western three strung together in some odd way while the eastern two are independent?

[Beltway]

It read $0.00 when I went through there on Thanksgiving Day!  Nice to have no tolls for a few more days...

Yeah... it's weird, actually. On my statement I have three charges for $0.00. One with both entrance and exit listed with the code "I10" (and the same timestamp, 09:02:37), one with both entrance and exit listed with the code "I08" (also same timestamp, 09:04:34), and one with the entrance listed as "I06" and the exit listed as "I02" (with timestamps 09:07:08 and 09:11:40, 4 minutes and 32 seconds apart). What's up with that? I assume the codes are all even numbers since the odd numbers are for eastbound while I was driving westbound, but then why did it skip "I04"? There are five toll "booths", so did one somehow miss reading me? Or are the western three strung together in some odd way while the eastern two are independent?

I've never gotten the detailed E-ZPass statement ... there would be an extra fee.

[vdeane]

You can't even read it online?

[hbelkins]

I had to request a monthly statement from West Virginia. I was not getting one via mail until I did so, and there was no provision to read it online. That printed and mailed statement came in handy when I got zinged for two supposed violations from Pennsylvania. All I had to do was send a copy of that statement and they waived the penalties they were trying to assess me.

[cpzilliacus]

Gazette editorial: ICC: "˜game-changer' or boondoggle?

[Beltway]

I had to request a monthly statement from West Virginia. I was not getting one via mail until I did so, and there was no provision to read it online. That printed and mailed statement came in handy when I got zinged for two supposed violations from Pennsylvania. All I had to do was send a copy of that statement and they waived the penalties they were trying to assess me.

In Virginia you would request a detailed monthly statement, and there is a fee of a few dollars.  I'm not interested enough to do that.  In over 10 years of use I have not had any problems.

[Duke87]

New York has been providing not only online statements but the ability to set up and modify an account online for years free of extra charge. I can log in and request another tag, discontinue a tag, change what car tags are registered to, make payments online, etc. Virginia needs to get with the program!

[oscar]

New York has been providing not only online statements but the ability to set up and modify an account online for years free of extra charge. I can log in and request another tag, discontinue a tag, change what car tags are registered to, make payments online, etc. Virginia needs to get with the program!

I hope the program doesn't include monthly fees just to maintain an account.  Virginia, so far, is fee-free if you can live without statements.

[1995hoo]

New York has been providing not only online statements but the ability to set up and modify an account online for years free of extra charge. I can log in and request another tag, discontinue a tag, change what car tags are registered to, make payments online, etc. Virginia needs to get with the program!

Virginia lets you do all those things. I added a second E-ZPass, and also added my wife's car to my account, after we got married. An online quarterly account statement is free; an online monthly detailed statement costs $1 a month; a paper statement via US Mail costs $2 a month for each set of up to three transponders. Or you can just have it display the last six months' transactions.

[qguy]

New York has been providing not only online statements but the ability to set up and modify an account online for years free of extra charge. I can log in and request another tag, discontinue a tag, change what car tags are registered to, make payments online, etc. Virginia needs to get with the program!

Virginia lets you do all those things. I added a second E-ZPass, and also added my wife's car to my account, after we got married. An online quarterly account statement is free; an online monthly detailed statement costs $1 a month; a paper statement via US Mail costs $2 a month for each set of up to three transponders. Or you can just have it display the last six months' transactions.

The PA Turnpike's E-ZPass system lets you do all that online as well. In addition, it allows you to view an updated electronic statement any time. I don't know about fees for a hardcopy version. Never cared enough to even read the info about it.

[1995hoo]

I took a roundtrip on the ICC this afternoon. Nice road. My videos came out poorly because I attempted to clip my iPhone to the passenger sun visor in a different way only to mess up how I did it, so one of them is upside-down and the other is rotated 90° somehow. I'll try to get some screen captures. The first video is also blurry because apparently the phone's camera focused on the dashboard as I put the phone into the holster at 60 mph on I-270.

My primary impression is that it was in many ways more like a parkway than a conventional freeway, six-lane design notwithstanding. They did a very nice job with the overpass facings (and, for that matter, the facings for the overpass supports). The gantries for the signs and the toll collection equipment are a dark brown rounded-off design as well. The other new signage I routinely see around here are the ones going up along the widened Beltway in Virginia, and those have a very functional, almost industrial look to them (the gantries they're using are of a particularly boxy design), whereas the Maryland ones' brown color seems more in tune with the sort of brown signs you see on some parkways (though the big green signs certainly don't fit that description).

As others have said, the 55-mph speed limit is way too slow. I saw at least three cops on my way eastbound; one of them was pacing me for a bit and didn't stop me (I had my cruise control set so I was right about on the 100 km/h line on the speedometer gauge). There seems to be no reason why it can't be at least 60 mph. Some of the curves might be a reason for not going to 65. But I will concede that the Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock makes a valid point when he says that if they're going to err in setting a speed limit on a new road, it makes more sense to err by setting it too low because they can easily raise it. There's logic in that. But the counterargument that setting it too low just encourages people to ignore the speed limit is valid as well.

I've never paid attention to what (if anything) is in the portions of Montgomery and PG Counties served by that road, but I found it a little bit odd that the signs on I-270 and I-95 don't list any sort of control city. They just list US-29 and either I-95 or I-270. I would have thought maybe Olney on the top line coupled with Laurel (eastbound) or Gaithersburg (westbound) might have made sense.

The advance signage on southbound I-95 could have been better. The first sign indicates a single exit lane, the rightmost lane, as an exit-only. So everyone gets in that lane. When you get close to the actual exit point, it turns out the second lane from the right is an optional-exit lane. Naturally the people in the exit-only lane had slowed down. Posting the first advance sign to indicate that two lanes exit would have been nice.

I also agree with the folks who said there ought to be signs indicating that toll-by-plate is an option.

[Duke87]

New York has been providing not only online statements but the ability to set up and modify an account online for years free of extra charge. I can log in and request another tag, discontinue a tag, change what car tags are registered to, make payments online, etc. Virginia needs to get with the program!

I hope the program doesn't include monthly fees just to maintain an account.  Virginia, so far, is fee-free if you can live without statements.

There is no monthly fee so long as you are a New York state resident. Out of state residents get a $1.00 per month fee, although this only applies to new out of state applicants. Out of state users who registered before the fee was implemented (my parents, for instance) are not subject to it.

[NE2]

The advance signage on southbound I-95 could have been better. The first sign indicates a single exit lane, the rightmost lane, as an exit-only. So everyone gets in that lane. When you get close to the actual exit point, it turns out the second lane from the right is an optional-exit lane. Naturally the people in the exit-only lane had slowed down. Posting the first advance sign to indicate that two lanes exit would have been nice.

Blame the new MUTCD for this shite.

[1995hoo]

The advance signage on southbound I-95 could have been better. The first sign indicates a single exit lane, the rightmost lane, as an exit-only. So everyone gets in that lane. When you get close to the actual exit point, it turns out the second lane from the right is an optional-exit lane. Naturally the people in the exit-only lane had slowed down. Posting the first advance sign to indicate that two lanes exit would have been nice.

Blame the new MUTCD for this shite.

Interesting. Thanks. That's an example of an utterly stupid regulation, then. If two lanes exit, it only makes sense for the advance signage to advise of that fact so drivers will use all available lanes.

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: Tolls mean drop in traffic on Intercounty Connector

[Alps]

WTOP Radio: Tolls mean drop in traffic on Intercounty Connector

Well, yes, but let's give it a few months (not just weeks) for traffic to first even out and then reroute based on the new baseline. Traffic will shift off the ICC, then discover traffic is bad again, then shift back, eventually reaching an equilibrium between fast travel and free travel. Then we can evaluate how many lanes the ICC really needed...

[J N Winkler]

Interesting. Thanks. That's an example of an utterly stupid regulation, then. If two lanes exit, it only makes sense for the advance signage to advise of that fact so drivers will use all available lanes.

I don't think this example proves that the new MUTCD provision is "utterly stupid."  The same provision also calls for the use of an arrow-per-lane diagrammatic to indicate the option lane.  The main objective of the changed rules regarding down arrow usage is to prevent multiple down arrows pointing to the same lane.  If there is no indication whatsoever that the option lane exists, then the signing for the exit fails to follow the recommendations of the 2003 and 2009 editions of the MUTCD.