MDTA: ICC Speed Limit To Increase To 60 MPH
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, upping the limit to 60 from 55, likely effective on March 31, according to the MDTA.
The decision to raise the speed limit 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 Forehand said in a statement. “I appreciate the [MDTA] stepping up last year in studying this issue and maintaining their commitment to safety the entire time.”
The engineering study and crash analysis is available online.
New warning signs for curves will be added to the road, the MDTA announced. Drivers traveling the ICC from end to end may save approximately 1½ minutes of travel time with the speed increase.
“We are confident that a 60 mph speed limit is safe and justifiable based on the design speed and geometry of the roadway, as well as on the speed most motorists are comfortable traveling the ICC,” MDTA Executive Secretary Harold M. Bartlett said in a statement.
Related Content:
- Report: ICC Could See Speed Limit Raised To 70 MPH (Jan. 29, 2013)
- Report: Police Aggressively Issue Tickets On ICC (Jan. 16, 2013)
- Report: Study Shows ICC Speed Limit Can Safely Increase To 60 MPH (Dec. 21, 2012)
- SPEAK OUT: Is The ICC Underused and Overpriced? (Dec. 8, 2012)
- County Council Member Says ICC Underused, Too Expensive (Dec. 5, 2012)
DaveE
7:00 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Great, replace all the 55 signs with 60 and a year from now we'll do it all over again when it goes to 65 or 70. It should have been 65 the day it opened.
Bob Hydorn
8:48 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
I so agree with you David, maybe the legislature needs to handle this. The MDTA sure has no clue.
KS
8:46 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
60???
Really??
Is this a joke?
Bob Hydorn
8:49 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Looks that way doesn't it.
Thomas Threlkeld
9:27 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Now the speed limit on the ICC will be 5 mph closer to the speed people are actually driving.
Jeffrey Fearing
11:18 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The speed limit region-wide was 70 before the 1974 gas-crisis rollback to 55. Why is it so daunting to get it back up to 70?
Teresa Baines
12:39 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The word is that the roadway was designed to specifications accommodating a maximum safe speed of 60 mph. Politically, there is no way the gov't can or will raise the speed limit to exceed what the road was officially designed to handle.
Bob Hydorn
12:48 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
That is the very same things that MDTA said about Route 68 in Western Mayland several years ago. That it was built for 55 and should not go above 60, well it has been set by the State at 65 for several years now, and most do 75 and above on it.