Saturday, April 27, 2013
Speeds above 90 mph should be allowed on the Intercounty Connector, says a letter in The Washington Post.
The Intercounty Connector recently increased its speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph. Should it go even higher? The road—also known as MD 200—was designed for speeds up to 60 mph. But that's not stopping one Washington Post reader from insisting the state should turn the ICC into the American autobahn. The German highway allows drivers many long stretches of road without any speed limit. In his letter to The Washington Post, Brian Moore, of Bethesda, thinks it's a concept Maryland ought to at least consider consider: Why enforce a speed limit at all? If Maryland had any marketing sense, instead of enforcing speed limits on a road that few people bother to use, it would rebrand the ICC as an American autobahn. When you are as desperate for …
Friday, March 29, 2013
Weather permitting, officials will change posted limits on Friday and Saturday.
State transportation officials are set to change signs on the Intercounty Connector (MD-200) this weekend to officially increase the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph. Weather permitting, westbound signs will be changed on Friday and eastbound signs on Saturday, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. Officials said new warning signs for curves have also been added to the highway, which runs between I-270 and I-95 through Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The MDTA elected to raise the speed limit this past winter following engineering studies and crash analysis based the ICC’s first year of operations. “We needed one year of ICC operations and full consideration of the design speed and geometry of the roadway to ensure …
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Highway officials will analyze crash data on the Intercounty Connector before increasing the speed limit, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Those clamoring for an increase in the Intercounter Connector's 55 mph speed limit may have some positive news on the horizon. An engineering study of the ICC has concluded that the speed of the highway can safely be raised to 60 mph, pending an analysis of crash data, The Baltimore Sun reported on Thursday. The accident review of the toll road is expected to be completed by the end of February, at which point the Maryland Transportation Authority will make a decision on the speed limit, according to the report. The highway—designed for speeds up to 60 mph—has yet to see a fatal accident and MdTA Police have recorded just 20 single-vehicle accidents, according to the report. Earlier in December, Montgomery County Council Member Phil …
Duke Ganote
6:14 am on Monday, April 29, 2013
The report asserts a "design speed" of 60 mph without_defining_the_term. Engineers know that "operating speeds and even posted speed limits can be higher than design speeds without necessarily compromising safety." Indeed, roads "often appear adequate for speeds far above the designated design speed". ICC drivers recognize this intuitively with average speeds exceeding 60 mph. http://safety.fhwa.… more ›