ICC Tolls - Why Higher Rates and What Impact?
COMMUNITY RESEARCH, AUDUBON NATURALIST SOCIETY,
and COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH
PRESS RELEASE
December 16, 2009
For Immediate Release Contact:
Greg Smith, Community Research, 240-605-9238 (c)
Stewart Schwartz, CSG, 202-244-4408, ext 121 or
703-599-6437 (c)
As Agency Decision Looms Tomorrow on ICC Toll Rates, Maryland Transportation Agencies Fail to Release Full Picture on the Higher Rates or their Impact
The Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) is scheduled to meet at 9 am tomorrow, Thursday, December 17, to set toll rates for the Intercounty Connector (location at end of release). The high toll rates being proposed by the transportation agencies have prompted an outcry from the public and local officials.
The proposed rates are significantly higher than the main toll rates that Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) used in the 2004 Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the ICC, the 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement, and a series of traffic and revenue forecasts developed by the MdTA from 2004 to late 2008. The state used the 2004 and 2006 environmental impact statements and related studies, all based on lower toll rates and higher traffic use of the ICC, to build political support and secure federal approval for the highway.
The level of the ICC tolls could have significant impact on how many people use the ICC, on congestion levels on local roads that the state claims the ICC would relieve, on air pollution emissions, and on area residents’ personal finances. Information on internal negotiations on setting the rates could also shed light on the degree to which the ICC is draining money from other transportation needs in the state, amid cutbacks on other projects statewide.
Yet, nearly two months after nonprofit organizations asked Maryland transportation agencies to provide this critical information and a day before the state plans to make its final decision on those toll rates, the state still has not delivered that information. “MDOT and MdTA have dragged out their response to us and still not provided the emails and other working papers that led to their proposal, nor have they shown that they have studied the impacts of the higher toll rates,” said Greg Smith of Community Research. (The timeline of official responses can be found below.)
“We believe that the public and elected officials should have a clear picture on why these rates differ from those previously proposed and what the impact will be in shifting traffic to local roads, particularly if gas prices also increase again,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
“We’re calling on MDOT and MdTA to release all information relevant to the setting of the toll rates, their decision making process, and the impact of these tolls, prior to any final decision,” said Smith of Community Research. “We are asking that they postpone the MdTA’s impending December 17 decision on the tolls, re-open the public comment period and schedule new hearings, and allow the public and elected officials to review and comment on whatever information the agencies release.”
The ICC’s huge price tag is playing major roll in forcing the MdTA roughly to double current toll rates statewide. Even with these sharp increases, state documents show that within a few years, the MdTA may struggle to maintain important cash to debt ratios and will have relatively little money available for capital improvements and maintenance on the state’s existing tunnels and bridges, some of which are more than 50 years old. Internal documents at MDOT and MdTA may shed additional light on the impact of the ICC on the state’s transportation finances, as the state faces a major budget crisis.
Timeline of State Responses to FOIA and Failure to Provide Critical Information
On September 23, the MdTA, the agency expected to own, operate and collect tolls from the ICC, published the toll rates that the state proposes to charge drivers using the 18-mile highway. The MdTA set a November 23 deadline for public comment on the proposed tolls and announced that the agency’s board planned to make its final decision on December 17.
On October 23, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Audubon Naturalist Society and Community Research filed a detailed information request with the Maryland Secretary of Transportation who also chairs the MdTA’s board of directors. The groups filed their request under the Maryland Public Information Act and the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, after finding that state and federal documents lacked critical information about the development and potential impacts of the proposed tolls.
In early November, just two weeks before the close of the public comment period, the Secretary of Transportation forwarded the nonprofits’ request to Maryland State Highway Administrator and to MdTA Executive Secretary.
The SHA Administrator replied by referring the groups to the state’s ICC website and to a massive administrative record of the ICC environmental review. That record was compiled by the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has not been made readily available to the public. It comprises perhaps 20,000 documents and more 200,000 pages and SHA provided no specific citations to points in the record or on the website. The groups received his letter on November 25, two days after the close of the public comment period.
Meanwhile, MdTA replied by sending the organizations seven printed documents and three documents on a compact disc, and stated in his December 8 cover letter that fully complying to with the nonprofits’ request would cost nearly $100,000 to cover the time that MdTA employees would spend searching their files. The groups received MdTA’s response on December 9, more than two weeks after the close of the public comment period and barely one week before the MdTA’s board plans to render its final decision on the ICC tolls. The groups’ preliminary review of the documents provided by MdTA indicates that they do not contain the requested information.
Earlier this year, the Transportation Authority took roughly seven weeks to deliver traffic and revenue forecasts to a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
- Original Freedom of Information Act request by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Audubon Naturalist Society and Community Research.
- Maryland State Highway Authority's November 19 response
- Maryland Transportation Authority's December 8 Response
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Time and Place of MarylandTransportation Authority Meeting
On December 17, 2009
Time: 9:00am
Place: Maryland State Highway Administration – District Three
9300 Kenilworth Avenue
Greenbelt, Maryland 20770.
The meeting may include a closed session that is not open to the public.
Call 
410-537-1000 for information about a particular meeting’s public-meeting time and for directions to the meeting’s location.
Anyone planning to attend a meeting who wishes to receive auxiliary aids, services or accommodations is invited to contact the MdTA at the above number (
410-355-7024 TTY).
