Thursday, April 25, 2013
Speeds above 90 mph should be allowed on the Intercounty Connector, says a letter in The Washington Post.
The Intercounty Connector recently increased its speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph. Should it go even higher? The road—also known as MD 200—was designed for speeds up to 60 mph. But that's not stopping one Washington Post reader from insisting the state should turn the ICC into the American autobahn. The German highway allows drivers many long stretches of road without any speed limit. In his letter to The Washington Post, Brian Moore, of Bethesda, thinks it's a concept Maryland ought to at least consider consider: Why enforce a speed limit at all? If Maryland had any marketing sense, instead of enforcing speed limits on a road that few people bother to use, it would rebrand the ICC as an American autobahn. When you are as desperate for …
Thursday, March 28, 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 on Friday and eastbound signs on 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…
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
A letter to the editor about raising the speed limit on the Intercounty Connector and other state highways.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Greg Cohen
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Tuesday, February 26
The following is a letter from Fred Flaharty, a Montgomery County school bus driver, in regards to a late January story about the Intercounty Connector potentially having a 70 mph speed limit: The bill that would raise the maximum speed limit on interstates and expressways statewide from 65 to 70 miles per hour is an incredibly BAD IDEA!....no...INSANE idea. As a regular daily driver of the ICC both in my personal car (twice per day) and as the driver of a Montgomery County school bus (4 trips per day) I protest in the strongest possible terms this proposed raising of the speed limit on the ICC. There are several important reasons for this the first of which is the road was never designed for faster speeds as are interstate highways. As is…
Monday, February 4, 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, 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 […
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, …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
"Police officers are ticketing speeders aggressively,” Montgomery County Councilman Phil Andrews said, according to a report by The Gazette.
Speeders beware, police are ticketing the Intercounty Connector at a high rate. Over the last three months, police officers on the ICC "issued about 10 speeding citations and warnings per day," The Gazette reported, including a total of 887 citations and warnings issued for speeding between October and December. Montgomery County Councilman Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg said he's heard from constituents that “police officers are ticketing speeders aggressively” on the ICC, according to the report. The ICC is patrolled by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, according to the report. Andrews has been vocal on ICC issues of late, calling the road overpriced and underused in December. The road's 55 mph speed limit has also …
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A recap of recent regional news in the new year.
Gaithersburg Closer to Lifting Fortunetelling Ban Gaithersburg Planning Commission is expected to meet today to vote recommend that the city allow fortunetellers to set up in certain parts of Gaithersburg, The Gazette reports. Gaithersburg Patch offers some background in a story published back in June 2012. The Gazette’s story is available online. ‘A deer, a baby, a bank robber and a head-on bus crash — all in a morning’s work at Metro’ The Washington Post reports on a string of strange incidents that occurred on Metro trains and a bus last week—everything from a woman going into labor on the Red Line en route to Grosvernor-Strathmore to a deer struck by a Green Line train in Prince George’s County. The story is available on The …
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Highway officials will analyze crash data on the Intercounty Connector before increasing the speed limit, The Baltimore Sun reported.
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 …
Jim Burnetti
9:56 pm on Friday, April 26, 2013
Second dumbest idea. Joe Thomas has probably not seen Maryland's Congressional District map. The one that combines my home near the ICC with Allegany County. And the genius who came up with that idea wants to be President. more ›