State transportation officials said they are studying the use of tolls on two Montgomery-area highways to combat congestion in the rapidly growing region, and hope to meet with the public about the potential projects in the fall.
Doug Simmons, deputy administrator with the State Highway Administration, said the state is evaluating how tolls could ease traffic flow on parts of Interstate 270 as it runs from I-370 North into Frederick County and also on the west side of the Capital Beltway.
Simmons said the state is considering high-occupancy toll lanes, high-occupancy vehicle lanes and mass transit options, but officials aren’t wedded to any one solution yet.
“We are recognized nationally as one of the most highly congested metro areas in the country ,and our concern is efficiency of the traffic flow,” Simmons said. “We’re seeing what the best alternative is to move people efficiently, whether it’s managed lanes and carpooling or through transit.”
A Montgomery County planning board study released last week said motorists can expect to spend 16.1 percent more of their time, roughly 50 hours, stuck in traffic in 2012 than they did in 2005.
That’s because at least 38,000 new homes and 127,000 new jobs are expected in the next four years. Two-thirds of the growth will be in the northern half of the Interstate 270 corridor, the report said.
Simmons said even if the state were able to find the funds to create any sort of toll project, it would likely still take 10 years to implement.
Montgomery Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson said recently that the county may need to use tolls to combat congestion on its roads, but local transportation leaders dismissed the idea, saying tolls are one of many options.
Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, who chairs the county council’s transportation committee, said she finds the idea of tolls on county roads “a little over the top.”
“I’m not sure we’re ready,” Floreen said. “I’m not ready to entertain that solution. I think we need to focus on mass transit and getting people to use that option.”
