Maryland cuts tolls on Bay Bridge, ICC and other roadways

[yellowcanine]

Congratulations Maryland. Now you can have roads just like Pennsylvania and Virginia.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/hogan-slashes-tolls-in-maryland/2015/05/07/096cd64e-f4d0-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html

[yeoman6987]

1. You really think that Bay Bridge needs to be 6 bucks?

This is good for the poor and working class who have to go back and forth everyday to work in Annapolis because housing is affordable on the Eastern shore. This is really positive.

[yellowcanine]

2. If you want a well maintained bridge, yes. I like low tolls. But I like good bridges more.

This was done with zero public input or studies on economic impact. There is no plan for how to deal with the reduced revenue. This is pure political pandering. Four years ago the same agency said they had to raise tolls in order to maintain the bridges properly. What happened? It got cheaper to maintain bridges? I don't think so. Those working class commuters eventually will be sitting in traffic longer at the bridge as lanes are closed more because of lack of preventive maintenance and fewer workers to get the job done at night when traffic is light. Foolish move driven by politics rather than sound economics. Besides, the rates dropped for trucks and commercial vehicles also, which break up the road surface more. So now Maryland taxpayers are subsidizing commercial truck traffic on our bridges. Nice job, Governor Hogan.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Yes this will have consequences.

I see the republicans love it though.

[yeoman6987]

5. Oh great

I see some just have to bash the poor and working class who are my priority. I live in Maryland so I know most about this incredibly state then those of another state. We are the number 1 state in the country.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Who is bashing the poor?

I live in Maryland too and did not vote for this teabagger.

[yeoman6987]

8. Neither did i

But you seem to not want to give poor and working class a break on tolls. I say lower the tolls and raise property taxes. And yes I am a homeowner who pays 8 grand a year but willing to raise my property taxes to ensure the poor get a break. I live in Arnold by the way.

[yellowcanine]

12. The poor get hit by higher property taxes also - they pay higher rents.

Besides, as I pointed out, everyone is getting a huge break on tolls - cars, light trucks, commercial trucks. That doesn't just help the poor. You want to help daily commuters, set up some kind of rebate system, don't just lower the rates for everyone.

[onenote]

28. And if Hogan had proposed an offsetting increase in taxes I might support the cut in tolls

But he didn't. In fact, he claims that he's going to make up for the lost revenue by cutting personnel etc. from the Department of Transportation.

Good luck with that approach to maintaining quality roads and bridges.

[KamaAina]

16. Easy solution: Run buses over there.

And pay for them with the bridge tolls, as Golden Gate Transit from Marin and Sonoma to SF does.

[KamaAina]

18. I don't see much evidence of a huge migration to the Eastern Shore.

Queen Anne's, the county closest to the Bay Bridge, has less than 50,000 people. Stevensville, at the east end of the bridge, has less than 6,000. Neighboring counties are even smaller.

[yellowcanine]

21. I don't think there are that many people commuting from the ES to jobs in Annapolis and DC.

Certainly not from the really affordable parts of the ES such as Dorchester County and Somerset County, for example.

Most of the folks in Queen Anne's who might be commuting can well afford the toll. Median household income is $87,000 in Queene Anne's (compared to $74,000 for the state, $46,000 in Dorchester, $38,000 in Somerset) and I suspect that most of the commuters are going to fairly high paid jobs in Annapolis or DC.

Besides, if you are commuting from the ES to Annapolis or DC, the bridge toll, even at $6 (and most commuters would pay the EZ Pass rate of $5.40) would not be a very large part of your daily RT commute costs. If you can afford to commute by private car, you can afford the toll. A much more affordable venue would be the MTA subsidized commuter bus service between Kent Island and DC (I believe it runs 6 days a week). Last I looked it was $5 one way and $170 for a monthly pass.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

27. I think there is a commuter rate that's even less than the EZPass rate

As for the lost revenue, it's going to be made up by attrition at MDOT, or at least that's what was on the radio yesterday.

[yellowcanine]

32. "the lost revenue, it's going to be made up by attrition" Yes ain't it always?

That's the teabagger line, according to them if we just had less waste and inefficiency, we could run the whole government with a flat tax of 5% or so.

Reality is this could very well tank the bond rating, making it very expensive to sell bonds to replace the Rte 301 bridge in Charles County in 2020. If you have ever been on that bridge you will know why it needs to be replaced.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

34. Vote was 6-2 to reduce tolls

All but two members of the board were appointed by Gov. O'Malley, so they could have stopped the reductions, had they wanted to.

$54 million annually is ~2% of the Maryland transportation budget and ~9% of the annual toll revenue; if that tanks the bond rating (which the MdTA stated was not an issue at all), then they have much bigger problems.

[yellowcanine]

35. All but two members of the board were appointed by Gov. O'Malley

Yes, and they serve 4 year terms, meaning all of them could be up for reappointment by Hogan. 4 years ago they raised the tolls and analysts say it was necessary to pay for bonds issued during the Ehrlich administration, according to the Baltimore Sun. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-toll-decrease-20150506-story.html
This was strictly a political decision so what the board says can be pretty much discounted.
Percent of budget is not the issue, ability to meet obligations is. Of course in the short term it will not make much of a difference. In fact, the crunch could come after Hogan is no longer governor. But he gets to say he lowered tolls. Good for him. Not so good for Maryland.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

36. Ah, got it

So 6 of 8 voted to decrease the tolls so that they could keep their jobs, and as such, they can't be trusted to tell the truth. And if it's nothing more than a political issue, then I would have thought that the members appointed by a Democrat would want to hand the Republican governor a defeat.

I'm of the opinion that the doomsayers are way overreacting to this.

[kwassa]

22. Development was just beginning to take off out there ...

right before the big recession hit. There are a couple of sizable developments of housing.

Many of my wife's relatives live over there.

[kwassa]

4. I like this.

Maryland is so toll-heavy that I spend $24 just in this state on my way to and from visiting relatives in New Jersey. Plus the Delaware tolls on top of that.

[yeoman6987]

7. Be careful the trolls of other states are commenting

on our state. I wonder how their state fair in comparison to Maryland. Not good I predict. Plus this is good for poor and working class and yet they still bash. Stunning!

[Kingofalldems]

9. Who would that be?

[yeoman6987]

10. Well not you since you are from Maryland

[yellowcanine]

13. Yes who would it be - I think just about every comment has been from a Marylander.

No one is bashing the poor. This does not help the poor if it means they pay higher income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and rents. The money has to come from somewhere to keep up the bridges.

[Kingofalldems]

14. Yes, that was an odd post.

Too bad poster would not be more specific.

[yellowcanine]

11. Traveled the NJ turnpike or PA turnpikes recently?

Even at 6 bucks round trip, the Bay Bridge was cheap compared to other toll bridges.
At $2.50 for EZ pass holders round trip, the Bay Bridge will be cheaper than it was in 1952 when the bridge opened as a single two lane span ($2.80). When the average household income was less than $4000 a year and gas was about 20 cents a gallon.
How is any of this fair to Maryland taxpayers, who will have to come up with the money to maintain and replace bridges? Why should we subsidize your trip to New Jersey?

[kwassa]

15. I don't believe there should be any toll roads.

I can ride I-95 through Pennsylvania and I- 295 through New Jersey and pay no tolls at all.

Infrastructure is a public good that helps everyone. Take it out of taxes, the way it used to be done.

[yellowcanine]

19. Yes roads are a public good. But they are not the most efficient way to move goods or people.

Tolls help to make up for some of that inefficiency. You want to be able to use your car rather than go on Amtrak? Fine, but we are going to charge you part of the extra cost of that with tolls.

Roads have never been financed only from general revenues. Tolls were used from the beginning, particularly for bridges. After the advent cars and trucks, fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees were used. Also heavy long distance trucks pay road taxes in each state.

[kwassa]

23. Tolls are keeping commuters off of the ICC.

the beautiful new freeway between I 270 and I-95. Very underused. The same with toll express lanes in Virginia.

[yellowcanine]

25. Maybe. Tolls are quite high there. But in a few years things may change.

I think the jury is still out on that one. Personally I would rather see toll lanes than HOV lanes because HOV is too difficult to enforce and getting a break for having one passenger is sort of a joke.

[onenote]

30. if you can remember when there were no tolls helping to fund road construction and maintenance

You must be very old indeed.

Toll roads have been around since the 18th Century.

[LibertyLover]

17. From what WBAL reported last night

the cash toll on the Bay Bridge is the only cash toll that is going down - all others like at the Key Bridge and Harbor Tunnel remain the same. It's E-Z Pass users that are getting the biggest break - Bay Bridge E-Z pass toll down to $2.50 from $5.70 and 15-25% E-Z Pass toll reductions at other venues. They also removed the monthly fee on E-Z pass because they are trying to make up for the toll reductions in volume of new E-Z pass users. Hogan is an idiot. Supposedly he comes from the town I live in - Edgewater. After the election, he and his wife were trying to decide if they should sell their home because they'd be in the Governor's Mansion in Annapolis. I think they decided to keep it because someone reminded them that even if he was reelected in 4 years, a truly horrifying prospect in my book, that we have term limits for governors and he could only serve 2 terms.

[FLPanhandle]

20. Why so many toll bridges

Here in the panhandle of Florida we have dozens of major bridges. Only one in the surrounding 4 counties is a toll bridge.

[KamaAina]

24. How many of them are over 4 miles long?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_Bridge

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the "Bay Bridge&quot is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and with a length of 4.3 miles (6.9 km), was the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure; the parallel span was added in 1973. The bridge is named the "Gov. William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge" after William Preston Lane, Jr. who, as Governor of Maryland, initiated its construction in the late 1940s after decades of political indecision.

[yellowcanine]

26. Not to mention high enough so that ships can pass under the bridge.

There are all kinds of bridges. Comparing them is apples and oranges.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

29. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida is 4.1 miles long

And I think they charge $1.50 cash, $1.25 SunPass.

[FLPanhandle]

31. There is the famous 7 mile bridge in the Florida Keys

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No toll.

[yellowcanine]

33. How much daily commuter and heavy truck traffic does that bridge get?

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is on a major artery for commuters, tourism, and commerce.
Maintenance work is being done on it virtually all of the time.