Maryland drivers will pay higher tolls starting Nov. 1. Under a plan approved Thursday by the Maryland Transportation Authority, the state’s bridges and tunnels will cost more in an effort to raise $500 million in revenue.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge will increase from its current $2.50 toll to $4. Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and Harbor tunnels, the Gov. Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge, and Interstate 95 north of Baltimore all will increase by $1.
Drivers can expect to shell out even more money in less than two years — tolls will rise again in July 2013.
Some of the toll increases are milder than proposed, after public protests persuaded officials to lower them. The proposed increase for the Bay Bridge, for example, was lowered from $5 in October and $8 in 2013 to $4 in November and $6 in 2013.
Although transportation officials said the proposed Bay Bridge toll increase was desperately needed to pay for expensive upkeep, state Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley said the agency purposely left room for negotiation.
“If we had done a proposal with no leverage there would have been no point in consulting the public,” Swaim-Staley told The Washington Examiner.
The agency estimates the cutbacks will mean $30 million a year less in revenue from the bridges and tunnels.
Drivers who take the partially open Intercounty Connector in Montgomery County without an E-ZPass are getting a slight break as well. Instead of the $3 fee currently charged to those who use the toll road without an E-ZPass — it is the first toll structure in Maryland without actual toll-collection facilities — will charge 150 percent of the rate. The peak rate for cars and other two-axle vehicles is currently $1.45, although tolls have not been set for when the completed ICC opens early next year.
ICC critics say the increases are a waste of money on a road that doesn’t relieve congestion on the Capital Beltway.
“Much of the increases are driven by the long-term plan for paying debt on the ICC,” said Cheryl Cort, policy director of the pro-transit advocacy group Coalition for Smarter Growth.
Maryland also will waive the $1.50 monthly E-ZPass fee to encourage more frequent E-ZPass users. The state said it expects about 40 percent of its 600,000 E-ZPass users to benefit from the waiver.
