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Follow TURFMaryland toll hikes: Second one in last 18 months
Toll hikes on top of a gas tax increase...a double whammy for struggling Marylanders.
The Summer Of Toll Increases
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Robert Lang
WBAL.com
As the summer travel season starts this weekend, motorists can expect higher gasoline taxes, and higher tolls starting July 1.
The 4-cent-a-gallon increase in gasoline taxes will take effect, as part of the transportation funding bill Governor Martin O'Malley signed into law last week.
Money from that tax is used to pay for roads, bridges and mass transit.
However, the state's toll roads, bridges and tunnels are run by the Maryland Transportation Authority and are funded through toll hikes.
The toll hikes will be the second toll increase to take effect in 18 months, after the Maryland Transportation Authority approved the toll increases in September, 2011. The toll increases took effect in November of that year.
EZ-Pass customers are already being notified, and the the Maryland Transportation Authority has posted the notice of the toll increase on its website.
Tolls at the Bay Bridge and Nice Bridge in Southern Maryland will increase from $4 to $6.
Tolls for the harbor crossings in Baltimore, meaning the Key Bridge, Fort McHenry Tunnel and Harbor Tunnel will increase from $3 to $4.
At the Harford and Cecil County line, the tolls for the JFK Highway and Hatem Bridge will increase from $6 to $8.
Tolls on the Inter-County Connector are not increasing.
The MdTA offers discounts for EZ-Pass users and frequent travelers.
CLICK HERE to read the list of toll changes that will take effect on July 1.
When the authority considered the toll increase in 2011, many motorists and lawmakers complained about the toll hike. Some motorists said they would stop using the crossings, but Deb Sharpless, the deputy executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, says it appears the authority is seeing roughly the same number of motorists use the crossings.
"We've experienced very little diversion off of our highways. Just recently we completed a before and after study, that will be available on our website by the end of this month, and the conclusion is we have experienced very little diversion as a result of the toll increases. It means that our numbers are the same, after the toll increases as before," Sharpless told WBAL News.
Sharpless also says all of the money collected in tolls is being used to pay for a variety of construction and repair projects.
These include the ongoing painting and renovation to the cables on the westbound span of the Bay Bridge. That work is expected to be completed this year.
Sharpless says there are also a number of projects taking place on the Harbor Tunnel Thruway (I-895), including repairs to the ramp connecting northbound I-97 and I-895.
CLICK HERE to read a list of Maryland Transportation Authority projects.
Sharpless says once the toll increases take effect in July, the authority believes no further toll increases will be needed for at least six years.