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The following information provides a brief summary on Express Toll Lanes.
For additional information, click on the following website:
www.marylandtransportation.com
Overview
Maryland's roadways are among the most congested in the country. Millions of people who rely on the State's highways to travel to work or school or for other everyday travel are paying too high a price - in essence a "congestion tax"- in time lost sitting idle in traffic. This same "tax" is being assessed on Maryland's businesses that rely on the transportation network to move materials and goods; have secure, safe, and reliable travel for their employees; and conduct their daily business. Significant near-term improvements, however, cannot be achieved without new approaches and new funding.
The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), State Highway Administration (SHA), and Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) are considering a new alternative to help deliver on the Administration's promise and to provide Maryland's residents, employers, and businesses with an alternative to sitting idle in traffic: Express Toll Lanes.
Express Toll Lanes will not eliminate traffic congestion or the need for new roadways in some corridors. However, they could offer Maryland's drivers and transit users a choice of relatively congestion-free travel and reliable travel times whenever they need it most. An integrated system of Express Toll Lanes could help ease the impact of traffic congestion on Marylanders' lives and do so decades sooner than traditional approaches allow.
What are Express Toll Lanes?
The concept of Express Toll Lanes incorporates a range of approaches that can be applied to both existing and new highway facilities to move auto and bus traffic more efficiently in a transportation corridor.
Express Toll Lanes would give people the choice of paying a fee to avoid congestion by driving in reserved free-flowing lanes on a given trip. Fees would vary by time of day and be based on demand - measured by congestion in both the general purpose and Express Toll Lanes.
Much like discount pricing programs offered by utilities, airlines, and transit systems to encourage off-peak use, Express Toll Lanes can be designed and operated to encourage and reward drivers who change the time of their travel from peak to off-peak times when they have the flexibility to do so. Another example familiar to all of us is that of long distance telephone service and cell phones whose pricing often is structured to encourage use when overall demand is lower - i.e., nights and weekends.
How do they work?
While express toll lanes are a relatively new concept and their applications are continually evolving, the most common type of Express Toll Lanes is to allow access to premium service lanes based on payment of a fee (or toll). The concept of price-Express Toll Lanes is part of a family of approaches sometimes termed "value pricing" that give drivers the choice of paying a fee to drive in faster-moving lanes on a given trip. Fees can vary by time of day or based on congestion levels.
Express Toll Lanes differ from traditional toll roads in that toll-free lanes and toll lanes could exist side-by-side on the same roadway, offering drivers the choice of using the toll lanes when time is most valuable to them and using the non-tolled general-purpose lanes at other times. Unlike traditional toll roads where tolls are generally charged at one fixed price 24 hours a day, seven days a week, tolls on Express Toll Lanes would vary by time of day and the level of demand and congestion.
An Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system will be set up that collect tolls, eliminating the need for tollbooths and for vehicles to stop to make payment. This system will be similar to Maryland's current E-ZPass system where an electronic tag (called a transponder) is placed on the windshield or dashboard, mounted on a license plate, or built into a vehicle by which drivers can be charged a (or toll) without stopping.
What are the benefits?
A major benefit of the Express Toll Lanes concept is the ability to provide needed highway lane capacity and an alternative to congestion much sooner than traditional approaches allow - for instance, as quickly as five to 10 years rather than 15 to 50 years as required with traditional funding methods alone.
In addition, Express Toll Lanes would give travelers the choice of paying for something they cannot always count on: a reliable trip when they have to get where they are going on time. Other benefits of Express Toll Lanes include:
• Travel time savings and reliability for both drivers and transit riders
• More travel choices
• Capacity for express and regular bus service by providing the lanes for higher speed and reliable service
• Improved traffic conditions and safety
• Community and environmental benefits
• Ability to generate revenue to recoup a portion of the cost of building and operating the lanes directly from users
• Ability to build transportation improvements decades sooner than with traditional funding channels
Those who could benefit include:
• A parent rushing to pick up a child at daycare
• Transit bus riders going to work
• A contractor or service technician able to make more service calls in a day
• A taxicab or van service driver making trips to and from the airport
• Ambulances and other emergency vehicles rushing to an accident or hospital
Where Might Express Toll Lanes be Effective in Maryland?
Express Toll Lanes are being considered wherever they make sense - that is, for any existing freeway that experiences chronic congestion, in particular during peak travel times (e.g., morning and evening rush hours). Several project-planning studies now underway include evaluation of Express Toll Lanes, including several of the State's busiest highway segments: portions of I-95 north of Baltimore, I-270, I-695, and the I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway. Early consideration of Managed Lane is also being given to MD 4, MD 5, MD 210, I-695, US 301, US 50, and I-95 between the Baltimore and Capital Beltways.
The information provided above offers a brief summary on Express Toll Lanes. For additional information, click on the following website: www.marylandtransportation.com
