Maryland

[vdeane]

Probably because the state lines are very poorly signed there.  The only crossing that has them is the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, probably because of I-95.  As far as I know, there is no other state welcome sign on any highway in the area.  Unless you can tell the difference between the road signs (and let's be honest, Joe driver probably can't), you can't even tell you crossed a state boundary.

The American Legion Bridge has welcome signs. At least it always has for as long as I can remember. To be fair, the one on the Inner Loop (entering Maryland) appears after you pass the first exit.

Street View here for Inner Loop (the Maryland welcome sign is in the distance on the right; you can see it underneath the BGS with the distances): http://goo.gl/maps/WgSDW  If you pan it around and click into Virginia, you'll see the Virginia welcome sign below and to the right of the BGS for the first two exits.

Oh my god those signs are so tiny!  No wonder I never saw them when my family went to DC a couple of years ago.  I was too busy trying to photograph the guide signs to see the small welcome signs.

[cpzilliacus]

Channel 4 news last night had a story about a woman who's outraged that she got a ticket for going 63 mph in the 65-mph zone "between the Beltways" on I-95. What they don't emphasize enough is that she was driving in the left lane. They mention it, but it's almost certainly her failure to keep to the right that motivated the cop to write the ticket–to which I say, good for the cop. It's too bad more of them don't enforce this sort of thing.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Driving-2-MPH-Under-Speed-Limit_-Md_-Woman-Gets-Ticket_Washington-DC.html

According to Channel 4 in Washington (WRC, NBC), the Nestoring ticket has been dismissed.

Driver: Too Slow in Left Lane Ticket Dismissed -
Woman cited driving 63 in a 65 mph zone Friday on Interstate 95

[NE2]

Good. Cops should enforce the laws as written, not as they think they read. Ignorance of the law and all that.

[jeffandnicole]

What a woman.  Fails to keep right, blames weather (as if all laws should be ignored when it's not a sunny, calm, warm day).  Calls up news agency to whine about ticket.  Doesn't want name used though.  News agency writes up story, not about woman blocking left lane ignoring basic keep right rules, but rather how she was driving below the speed limit and still got a ticket.  State Police decide they have better things to do then deal with a bunch of fellow LLDs complaining about driving below the flow of traffic in the left lane.

If I'm driving below the speed limit, can I have a beer?  Can I complain to the local news if I'm arrested, claiming that since I was below the speed limit, it should be perfectly fine for me to have a beer while driving?

[agentsteel53]

Good. Cops should enforce the laws as written, not as they think they read. Ignorance of the law and all that.

a speeding ticket for 63 in a 65 seems awfully suspect.  "driving too fast for conditions" might apply but it seems to be stretching it.

does Maryland have a "failure to keep right" law?  if so, they should have cited her based on that.

[vdeane]

Don't all states have laws against impeding traffic flow?

[cpzilliacus]

Good. Cops should enforce the laws as written, not as they think they read. Ignorance of the law and all that.

a speeding ticket for 63 in a 65 seems awfully suspect.  "driving too fast for conditions" might apply but it seems to be stretching it.

On the "Between the Beltways" section of I-95, the freeway is wide, mostly straight and mostly flat.  It was designed and engineered in the years after the Capital Beltway was opened to traffic, and the most of the mistakes made with the Beltway were not repeated.  The design speed (informally, in my opinion) is 75 MPH or maybe even 80 MPH.

Going 62 in the left lane is Nestoring, and the State Police were right to issue her a ticket.

does Maryland have a "failure to keep right" law?  if so, they should have cited her based on that.

No.  There are some segments of freeway that have signs telling slower traffic to keep right (I-95 is not one of them).  If someone Nestors on a freeway that has such signs, then I suppose the Nestoring driver could be cited for failure to obey an official traffic control device.

[NE2]

Going 62 in the left lane is Nestoring, and the State Police were right to issue her a ticket.

It's never right to issue a ticket that doesn't apply.

[agentsteel53]

by not having a "slow traffic keep right" law, Maryland is setting itself up for failure.

[oscar]

by not having a "slow traffic keep right" law, Maryland is setting itself up for failure.

Or at least a law like Virginia's, generally requiring left-lane traffic to move right to yield to overtaking traffic.

Best would be to adopt Texas' "left lane for passing only" (or "only for passing", I forget the exact language) signs, which I saw a lot of earlier this month driving through the panhandle.  Lane discipline there is noticeably better than in adjacent states such as New Mexico. 

[cpzilliacus]

by not having a "slow traffic keep right" law, Maryland is setting itself up for failure.

Or at least a law like Virginia's, generally requiring left-lane traffic to move right to yield to overtaking traffic.

Best would be to adopt Texas' "left lane for passing only" (or "only for passing", I forget the exact language) signs, which I saw a lot of earlier this month driving through the panhandle.  Lane discipline there is noticeably better than in adjacent states such as New Mexico.

On four lane freeways (and four lane rural arterials, yes, this makes sense). 

On wider roads?  Not always.  Especially when approaching a major "split" in the freeway.

[oscar]

by not having a "slow traffic keep right" law, Maryland is setting itself up for failure.

Or at least a law like Virginia's, generally requiring left-lane traffic to move right to yield to overtaking traffic.

Best would be to adopt Texas' "left lane for passing only" (or "only for passing", I forget the exact language) signs, which I saw a lot of earlier this month driving through the panhandle.  Lane discipline there is noticeably better than in adjacent states such as New Mexico.

On four lane freeways (and four lane rural arterials, yes, this makes sense). 

On wider roads?  Not always.  Especially when approaching a major "split" in the freeway.

For major splits, and also left exits/entrances, there could be signs waiving the "left lane for passing only" requirement.  (For left turns on non-freeways, the signs could explicitly allow an exception for left-turning traffic -- but the signs in Texas don't state that exception even on four-lane divided highways with at-grade crossings.)  Then have signs thereafter, reimposing the restriction.  Similar to how truck restrictions in the left (or left two) lanes are handled.  That'd have the side benefit of underscoring that "left lane only for passing" is the general rule, and exceptions are not left to the Nestors of this world. 

[cpzilliacus]

Baltimore Sun: Big I-95 project planned in Harford faces long delay - $2 billion expansion, express toll lanes put on ice because of lack of funding

Although workers building express toll lanes have become a common sight on I-95 in eastern Baltimore County, Harford County residents should not expect to see the same thing on their side of the Little Gunpowder Falls for many years, state highways officials say.

A $2 billion Maryland Transportation Authority project to expand and add toll lanes to Section 200 of I-95 — between just north of the Route 43 interchange in White Marsh and the interchange with Route 22 near Aberdeen — has been put on hold until the MdTA can obtain the appropriate funding, John Sales, public affairs manager, said Thursday.

"As far as we're concerned we're not intending to build those toll lanes on Section 200 any time soon until we get that funding in place," Sales explained.

[vdeane]

by not having a "slow traffic keep right" law, Maryland is setting itself up for failure.

Or at least a law like Virginia's, generally requiring left-lane traffic to move right to yield to overtaking traffic.

Best would be to adopt Texas' "left lane for passing only" (or "only for passing", I forget the exact language) signs, which I saw a lot of earlier this month driving through the panhandle.  Lane discipline there is noticeably better than in adjacent states such as New Mexico. 

Remind me to never drive in VA.  I'd probably be stuck going 55 behind some slow moron because traffic in the left lane of freeways is almost always moving faster than the speed limit, which I won't.  I don't want some speeder to cause my "no traffic tickets" streak to end.  There are countless stretches of highway where moving right will almost always cause me to be "boxed in" and unable to change lanes.

[oscar]

Remind me to never drive in VA.  I'd probably be stuck going 55 behind some slow moron because traffic in the left lane of freeways is almost always moving faster than the speed limit, which I won't.  I don't want some speeder to cause my "no traffic tickets" streak to end.  There are countless stretches of highway where moving right will almost always cause me to be "boxed in" and unable to change lanes.

Traffic in VA usually moves pretty quickly in the right lanes too, except for hilly parts of I-81 where slow trucks in the right lane (or, worse still, in both lanes when one truck inches past another) are an issue.  With that exception, if you drive the speed limit in the right lanes, you're unlikely to be stuck behind someone going even slower.

[cpzilliacus]

Remind me to never drive in VA.  I'd probably be stuck going 55 behind some slow moron because traffic in the left lane of freeways is almost always moving faster than the speed limit, which I won't.  I don't want some speeder to cause my "no traffic tickets" streak to end.  There are countless stretches of highway where moving right will almost always cause me to be "boxed in" and unable to change lanes.

Driving in Virginia is fine.  Two overall suggestions are relevant:

(1) Never, ever get close to or above 80 MPH, regardless of the posted speed limit.

(2) If you are in a smallish municipality in Virginia, obey the posted speed limit on city streets, no matter how low or unreasonable it seems to be.  Specific examples of strict speed limit enforcement in the Commonwealth include Falls Church (the city police have nothing else to do); Hopewell (especially including the revenue-raising speed trap operation on I-295); Emporia (revenue-raising speed trap operations on I-95, U.S. 301 and U.S. 58); Berryville and Greene County (frequent speed traps on U.S. 29 between Charlottesville and Culpeper). Others in this thread might consider adding other strictly-enforced municipalities in Virginia.

(3) Remember also that in Virginia, municipal cops have the power to issue you a traffic ticket for a certain distance beyond the corporate limits of their city or town.

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: Transportation hearing draws crowd, opposition in Md.

More than 300 people turned out before the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to raise the gas tax and replenish the Transportation Trust Fund.

According to the Maryland Department of Transportation, the bill would generate about $800 million annually by 2016 and create $3.4 billion in transportation investments during the next five years.

But the bill would also add a sales tax to gasoline, meaning the overall tax could increase from the current 23.5 cents to 42.7 cents by 2018.

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio reports on a water supply infrastructure failure that's impacting the state highway network (Md. 185, Connecticut Avenue) in Montgomery County: Water main break shuts down Connecticut Ave. in Chevy Chase

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Maryland's I-95 Express Lanes not promising - high cost, slow work, low traffic

Since Cofiroute, the French toller pioneered toll express lanes on the 91 Freeway nearly 20 years in the northeast corner of Orange County California such HOT or toll managed lanes have achieved a great record of success. But even the best ideas can be misapplied or poorly implemented.

There's a disappointment very close here in Maryland - the I-95 Express Lanes (MD95ETLs) in the southern portion of the JFK Highway. These lead from the convergence of the northern approaches to the two Baltimore Harbor tunnels (Francis Scott Key Tunnel I-95 and Baltimore Harbor Tunnel I-895) up through the Baltimore Beltway I-695 and the MD43 interchange at White Marsh, a total of 8 miles.

A second section would extend this 14 miles and four interchanges further to serve the bedroom communities of Harford County.

The project was planned ten and more years ago for traffic growth that hasn't occurred.  Planning for the first stage was part of a I-95 Master Plan study published April 2003 which based on Baltimore metro planning models forecast compound annual growth in traffic of 2.6%/year though a 2020 planning date from base traffic numbers in 2000. Even before the first portion of the planned express toll lanes (MD95ETLs) has opened are 12 years into the planning period 2000-2020.

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: Former NBA great Adrian Dantley works as crossing guard in Montgomery Co. (VIDEO)

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Former NBA star and Olympian Adrian Dantley is spending his time off the court, out of the gym and in the middle of the street as a crossing guard for Montgomery County Public Schools.

Dantley, who grew up in the area and played for DeMatha High School and Notre Dame before going pro, says he realizes it's an unexpected choice.

[cpzilliacus]

North Potomac Patch reporting about a proposal from M-NCP&PC Montgomery County for Md. 355:  Planners Want Two Rockville Pike Lanes Assigned to Bus Network - Taking out two travel lanes from the Beltway to Western Avenue could add six minutes of travel time on the stretch for motorists by 2040.

Montgomery County planners are recommending that two travel lanes of Rockville Pike from the Capital Beltway to Western Avenue be re-purposed as dedicated rapid transit bus lanes. Planners say the rapid transit route would draw high ridership, but drivers could see their afternoon rush trip increase by nearly six minutes from Western Avenue to Cedar Lane by 2040.

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio reporting about the same proposal from M-NCP&PC Montgomery County for Md. 355 and other corridors:  Bus rapid transit: Will it solve traffic problems in MoCo?

As lawmakers in Annapolis debate a bill to fund projects like the Purple Line in Montgomery County, a plan for another mass transit option called bus rapid transit is also in the works.

"There is already congestion on 29 and 355 (Rockville Pike)," says Larry Cole, Master Planner for the Montgomery County Planning Board, who presented a bus rapid transit plan on Monday evening. "The traffic doesn't move on 355 sometimes. So what do you do? Do you accept the situation that the traffic will get worse or find a better way to use the lanes?"

According to a recent Metropolitan Washington Council of Government report, the population in the Washington Metro region will go up 21 percent between now and 2040.

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Maryland House votes to boost transportation funds with gas tax increase

The Maryland House of Delegates voted 76 to 63 Friday to raise taxes on gas to help replenish a state transportation fund that is rapidly running out of money for highway construction and long-planned mass transit projects.

Under the bill, a priority for Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), motorists could expect to pay roughly another 13 to 20 cents per gallon of gas by mid-2016, according to legislative analysts. The higher gas taxes would be phased in over several years, with the first increase of roughly 4 cents per gallon coming in July.

[cpzilliacus]

Baltimore Sun: State Police safety dragnet in Baltimore takes 60 trucks off the road

One of every five commercial trucks pulled over in Baltimore by Maryland State Police inspectors during a two-day sweep this week was impounded for safety defects. In addition to the 114 defective trucks, 21 drivers were barred from driving for violations.

The dragnet, the first in the city in six years, used 45 troopers from across the state to monitor highway ramps and prowl city streets. Trucks selected for inspection were either pulled over along Broening Highway and Fairfield Road, access roads to the port of Baltimore, or herded to a parking lot at M&T Bank Stadium.

During Tuesday and Wednesday, troopers carried out 562 inspections and issued 127 citations and 402 warnings. Offenses were as various as falsified log books, drivers spending too many hours behind the wheel, bad tires and defective brakes. Two men were arrested on outstanding warrants for failure to appear in court.

[cpzilliacus]

Southern Maryland Newspapers: Delegation parlays gas tax votes into project promises - Light rail, Nice Bridge, 301 upgrades would be added to state plan

The Maryland Department of Transportation will include in its six-year Consolidated Transportation Program funding to complete studies on a new light-rail line stretching from White Plains to the Branch Avenue Metro station in Marlow Heights, a replacement or expansion of the Gov. Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge connecting Newburg to King George County, Va., and interchanges at the U.S. 301 intersections at Leonardtown Road and Mattawoman-Beantown Road in Waldorf, per an agreement with Gov. Martin O'Malley's (D) administration "as a condition for us voting for the bill,"  Middleton said.