News:

The AARoads Wiki is live! Come check it out!

Main Menu

ICC Intercounty Connector

Started by Alex, August 27, 2009, 12:06:04 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

1995hoo

Quote from: cpzilliacus on July 24, 2014, 06:16:57 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on July 24, 2014, 03:42:59 PM
Heh. You want to get some good video, station yourself out there Monday during the afternoon rush hour.

It's going to be fun, especially the WAY "early" exit for Exit 33, Md. 198 - I did send this over to Bob Marbourg so he will be able to alert his listeners.

The question with him is often whether he can keep his sentences short enough to convey the point!



Quote from: TheOneKEA on July 24, 2014, 08:44:08 PM
I will be very interested to see how the through traffic traveling past the MD 198 interchange will be affected by the opening of the northbound C-D carriageway once the initial disruption settles down. I would expect at least a few drivers to try to bypass any backups by escaping onto the C-D lanes and then trying to merge back to I-95 north.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I've done that quite a few times on I-66 at the Nutley Street interchange, although often when I do it it's because I have an eye to exiting if the backup seems really severe.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.


TheOneKEA

The lanes are open now, and very well signed with both BGSes and portable VMSes. The asphalt topcoat hasn't been laid past the gore point for the ramp converging from MD 200 westbound and the transition back to the original C-D lane used for the loop ramps to and from MD 198 and I-95 north is very rough at the moment.

The patches that were on all of the BGSes for Exit 31 are now gone and have been replaced with new patches hiding the existence of Exit 32 for Contee Road. In the opposite direction, all of the discrete BGSes on I-95 south for Exit 32 are still covered up. On MD 200 itself, Exit 19C is now open and allows traffic from MD 200 west to reach the northbound C-D lanes.

The most interesting feature on the lanes is a mile marker that says NORTH 95 CD MILE 32.

cpzilliacus

The keystone of the entire Md. 200 (InterCounty Connector) project was how to cross the coldwater Paint Branch tributary of the Anacostia River (itself a tributary of the Potomac River). The issues with the self-reproducing (but non-native) brown trout population were repeatedly cited as reasons not to build the highway at all, or to reroute it into the watershed of the Patuxent River, which is a source of drinking water for millions of homes in Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.  This was the source of arguments between the state of Maryland, elected officials in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, and an assortment of mostly anti-highway environmental and civic groups for many decades.

Finally, a decision was reached to route the road through the upper Paint Branch, but use massive high (and massively expensive) bridges instead of culverts and pipes for the streams that it had to cross.

Here are some images of the Md. 200 bridge that spans the Paint Branch.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203576956496634.1073741847.1596953667&type=1&l=eb7d42e948
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

TheOneKEA

The northbound C-D lanes on I-95 are now fully paved north of the on-ramp from MD 200 west, and the barrier at Exit 33A is now finished. The southbound C-D lanes are being paved and striped right now but they don't look like they will be ready to open for at least two more weeks.

davewiecking

Took new exit 19C yesterday-marked only with 198 sign. Loop ramp that puts the driver on the northbound C-D lanes. Exit ramp mostly in place for Contee/Van Dusen, but not open. Smooth ride to eastbound 198.

cpzilliacus

Quote from: davewiecking on September 24, 2014, 09:50:14 AM
Took new exit 19C yesterday-marked only with 198 sign. Loop ramp that puts the driver on the northbound C-D lanes. Exit ramp mostly in place for Contee/Van Dusen, but not open. Smooth ride to eastbound 198.

And on back to I-95 northbound. 
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

cpzilliacus

I noticed that MdTA (and SHA, since they built the road for MdTA and SHA's contractor), will be removing a fair amount of pavement on the eastbound side just east of Briggs Chaney Road. 

Why?  Apparently there is a spring under the eastbound lanes, so they will be removing the pavement to install some sort of drainage system.  The spring may be related to the Fall Line, which runs roughly parallel to U.S. 29 in eastern Montgomery County.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

davewiecking

Correct, CPZ. C-D lanes continue back to I-95. But my car didn't because I was headed further east!

lepidopteran


cpzilliacus

Quote from: lepidopteran on October 03, 2014, 02:13:32 PM
A CFI where the ICC meets US-1?

http://www.iccproject.com/pdf/ICC_Contract-D-E-mailer4_2014-06-26.pdf

Yup.

It's because of the presence of the CSX Capital Subdivision tracks immediately adjacent to U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue) that would have made a "traditional" trumpet interchange very expensive.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

Roadsguy

How does a CFI reduce signal phases if the left turns still have to cross each other at a light anyway? The intersection at US 1 can be two-phase, but that would only seem to work if the left turns were grade separated where they cross.
Mileage-based exit numbering implies the existence of mileage-cringe exit numbering.

Revive 755

Quote from: cpzilliacus on October 03, 2014, 04:34:26 PM
It's because of the presence of the CSX Capital Subdivision tracks immediately adjacent to U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue) that would have made a "traditional" trumpet interchange very expensive.

Looks to me that Maryland could have designed it as a modified directional Y with left ramps to/from NB US 1 and avoided impacted the railroad.

Given the lack of driveway on US 1 north of the intersection, I don't see why the connection to NB US 1 could not been designed as Continuous Green T either. 

Alps

Quote from: Roadsguy on October 03, 2014, 04:38:49 PM
How does a CFI reduce signal phases if the left turns still have to cross each other at a light anyway? The intersection at US 1 can be two-phase, but that would only seem to work if the left turns were grade separated where they cross.
The MD 200 intersection is far enough removed from US 1 that it operates on its own phasing. You're trading one 3-phase intersection for two 2-phase intersections.

cpzilliacus

WTOP Radio: Md. officials debate Purple Line and ICC tolls

QuoteBut while the Purple Line will make better connections between the two regions in the lower county, the Intercounty Connector (ICC) is the main connection in mid- and upper-county cities such as Beltsville, Laurel, Burtonsville, Wheaton, Rockville and Gaithersburg.

QuoteIn the Democratic primary, Attorney General Doug Gansler proposed a 50-percent discount for commuters who used the ICC at least 20 days in a calendar month. The proposal differed from Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews' plan to cut tolls for all drivers.

Quote"I would like to see more people use the ICC, but I would not like to see so many people use that it gets clogged," Leggett says. "Maybe the approach whereby you can strike a balance for people who regularly use it, that may work. But we need to evaluate it and I hope we do so."
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

TheOneKEA

Does anyone know when the US 1 intersection is scheduled to be finished and the remainder of the ICC mainline is scheduled to be opened?

cpzilliacus

Quote from: TheOneKEA on October 18, 2014, 01:24:13 PM
Does anyone know when the US 1 intersection is scheduled to be finished and the remainder of the ICC mainline is scheduled to be opened?

By the end of calendar year 2014. 
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

lepidopteran

Two new traffic changes:

  • On I-95 SB, the two exits for MD-198 now come from the same collector lane.  Note that it is not separated from the mainline by anything more than paint, plus maybe a little extra space in places.
  • The C/D lanes on the SB side appear to be open to traffic!  However, from what I could tell, the lanes are only accessible from EB MD-198; the flyover from WB 198 still lets you off right on I-95.
The ramp leading from I-95 SB to the new CD lanes are not open, and seems to need at least an asphalt layer yet.  But there's no point in opening that ramp before either the Contee Rd. exit or the ICC EB extension is open.  Having said that, the Contee Rd. exit ramps appear to be striped, and the gore sign is unsheathed in place in both directions (only a standard "ROAD CLOSED" barricade seems to prevent exiting).  Maybe Contee is waiting until that ramp from SB I-95 is completed, or only MD-198 traffic could get to it.  Chicken-and-egg, anyone?  As for the NB side, perhaps a temporary half-interchange would be considered too confusing.

TheOneKEA

I checked out the I-95 SB C-D lanes and confirmed what lepidopteran experienced. The ramps to and from Contee Road are done and the C-D carriage way south of MD 198 is fully finished. The only area of work remaining is the connection to the C-D lanes from MD 198 westbound and stretches back along I-95 SB a short distance.

Interestingly, the toll rate VMS on the C-D carriage way appears to only show the toll to US 1 and I-370 instead of additionally showing the toll rate to US 29.

1995hoo

The Washington Post reports the ICC's final eastern segment is to open this coming Monday. It sounds like the remaining C/D ramps are to open as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/11/05/final-part-of-intercounty-connector-set-to-open/
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

lepidopteran

Quote from: 1995hoo on November 05, 2014, 04:07:36 PM
The Washington Post reports the ICC's final eastern segment is to open this coming Monday. It sounds like the remaining C/D ramps are to open as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/11/05/final-part-of-intercounty-connector-set-to-open/

And presumably the Contee Rd. exits will open by then, if not sooner.  For as of Monday night, the new traffic signals on Contee were on flash mode, as is often done the first few days a signal is put into operation.  These signals control the folded-diamond ramps.

I assume (or hope) that the I-95 SB exit lanes at MD-198 will be divided by something more substantial than paint, since it seems too easy to slide into there from the exit lanes for the new C/D lanes.  The gore sign at 198 is temporary, mounted on 2x4's on the road surface between the lines, so maybe something is planned.

The new BGS directing MD-198 WB traffic onto the I-95 SB mainline looks kind of odd.  This is because it reads "South <I-95 shield>", rather than the other way around.

BrianP


Zeffy

A signalized intersection for the end of the ICC at US 1? Lame. Also, I have a feeling weaving might be a problem, considering the interchange between the ICC and 95 is a traditional cloverleaf. I thought DOTs wanted to move away from those and replace some of the ramps with flyovers because of the issues with weaving? Oh well, can't wait for photos of the new section.
Life would be boring if we didn't take an offramp every once in a while

A weird combination of a weather geek, roadgeek, car enthusiast and furry mixed with many anxiety related disorders

1995hoo

#497
Look more closely at the map above (BTW, north is to the right on that map). It's not entirely a traditional cloverleaf. Traffic headed from the eastbound ICC to northbound I-95 uses a flyover ramp that bypasses the new C/D roadway, while traffic headed from the eastbound ICC to Exit 32 or Exit 33 uses the cloverleaf loop-around ramp to the C/D roadway.

The same is also true from southbound I-95 to the westbound ICC–there's a direct ramp that passes under the C/D roadway.

I don't know what the traffic count estimates are for the new loop-around ramp from the southbound C/D roadway to the new eastbound portion of the ICC, but I suspect they're significantly lower than the counts going between the existing ICC segment (west of I-95) and the portion of I-95 north of the ICC, or vice versa.


Edited to add: Satellite view more clearly showing the flyover (and flyunder) may be seen here: http://goo.gl/maps/oslJf  It's rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise compared to the map shown above (i.e., north is up and the existing ICC is to the left).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

cpzilliacus

Quote from: Zeffy on November 06, 2014, 10:21:21 AM
A signalized intersection for the end of the ICC at US 1? Lame.

Not at all.  Just east of (and parallel to) U.S. 1 (Baltimore Avenue) is the CSX Capital Subdivision - Google maps here.

Building a trumpet interchange, desirable though it might be, would be very expensive.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

froggie

As I recall, they also went with a CFI at US 1.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.