Public whining over speed cameras appears to have, at least momentarily, softened hearts at the Maryland State Highway Administration. The SHA has decided that motorists shouldn't have to pay a $40 fine for driving too fast in construction zones for another two weeks.

While that's great for scofflaws, it would seem to thwart the original purpose of the measure: to make work zones safer for both construction crews and motorists. The law has been in effect since Oct. 1, but so far 900 warnings have been sent to violators.

Under the law, motorists only face a fine when they drive at least 12 mph over the speed limit, a generous standard to be sure.

Last year, 11 people lost their lives in work zone crashes in Maryland. Nationwide, there were 720 fatalities. Speeding and driver inattention are considered to be leading factors involved in these accidents.

Continue reading "Speeders get a second chance" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Transportation
        

The Sun's Mike Dresser reports this morning that Montgomery County has released a study of the effects of its first-in-the-state speed camera program near schools and in speed zones. Contrary to the claims of speed camera naysayers, who say the cameras are just a government money grab with no implications for public safety, Montgomery County found a steep drop in speeding, particularly in speeding of more than 11 miles an hour over the speed limit, and a corresponding drop in serious accidents.

The study found:

• Within a year of going into effect, the number of vehicles traveling 11 mph or more over the speed limit dropped from 20 in 1,000 drivers to 10 in 1,000 drivers
• The number of crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries was down 39 percent near the cameras
• The number of tickets issued by the cameras dropped 78 percent after they were in operation for a year

The state law allowing other counties to install speed cameras went into effect on Thursday, and many jurisdictions have approached the idea warily -- the Baltimore City and Baltimore and Howard counties are using the cameras, but Anne Arundel, Harford and Carroll counties have not authorized them. It will be interesting to see how they justify that decision given the clear evidence that the cameras do improve public safety.

Posted by Andy Green at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Transportation
        

BWI Airport has two big things going for it: It's cheap and convenient. Sure, you don't get a lot of international flights, and it's no match for Reagan and Dulles when it comes to the big carriers. But it's a virtual palace for Soutwest and its low-fare rivals, and it's easy to get to and easy to leave.

That's why news that the aiport will now charge $2 for the previously free half-hour of parking in the hourly garage is such a disappointment. Picking people up at the airport or dropping them off has been such a civilized experience there; no endless loops driving around waiting for planes to arrive, no worrying about whether the cops are going to force you to move along from the cell phone lot, no hurried loading and unloading of the car next to the terminal. Instead, you headed into one of the hundreds or thousands of empty spaces in the hourly garage, took an elevator and a skywalk over to the terminal and zipped back, all for free.

Sure, $2 is not so much to pay. But here's betting that lots of people refuse on general principle. The roadways around the airport will get clogged; dropping off or picking up at the airport will become a lot more stressful; and suddenly, BWI won't seem like quite as attractive a place to fly. The airport expects to gain about $500,000 a year from the $2 fees, but it could lose a lot more than that.

(Sun photo)

Posted by Andy Green at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Transportation
        

A new report from smart growth advocates praises Maryland for spending nearly all of its transportation stimulus money on maintaining or repairing existing roads, not building new ones. Critics immediately pounced on the strategy as wasteful because, some apparently concluded, anything that doesn’t relieve existing traffic congestion is an extravagance.

But resurfacing roads, upgrading traffic controls, installing traffic barriers and similar projects can not only help keep traffic moving, but they are also critical for preventing accidents and keeping insurance costs down. A recent national study found that road-related conditions — ranging from pot holes to bad design (too-narrow shoulders or a lack of pavement markings are prime examples) — were a factor in 22,000 fatalities and cost the public about $217.5 billion each year.

Maryland’s $225 million in highway stimulus spending can’t fix all the problems. Highway maintenance needs easily surpass that figure — the recession has already caused the state to cut back on transportation spending by more than $1 billion over the next six years.

What do you think? Was this the right way to spend the money? How should the state handle its future transportation needs?

(Sun photo)

Posted by Andy Green at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Transportation
        

The last time U.S. transportation policy took a bold approach of any kind was more than five decades ago when President Dwight Eisenhower established the interstate highway system. Today, that system is overloaded and under-financed and it's not even clear what role those highways are expected to play in the country's future.

What's needed is the kind of go-for-it spirit of the Eisenhower era, but with a new direction. America doesn't necessarily need more roads so much as it needs a better and more cost-effective approach to transportation.

Such a strategy would require government to make the best and most practical investments to meet commuter, economic development, energy, safety, environmental and climate change needs. In other words, set specific goals for the nation's transportation system and then decide what projects will best and most efficiently hit those targets.

Last week, a bipartisan panel issued a report that outlines how that might be done. One can only hope Washington is paying attention.

Continue reading "A fresh start on national transportation policy" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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The search for Air France Flight 447, which disappeared over the Atlantic Sunday with 228 passengers and crew aboard, may have reached its sad but inevitable conclusion. On Tuesday, Brazilian military aircraft spotted a trail of wreckage 600 miles off Brazil's northeast coast along the plane's planned route from Rio de Janiero to Paris. No signs of life were reported. Until samples of the debris are recovered, investigators won't know for sure whether the pieces belonged to the missing passenger jet. But no one now believes there were any survivors of whatever brought the plane down.

The Pentagon said Monday it had ruled out a terrorist attack as a cause of the accident. But beyond that, officials seem at a loss to explain why Flight 447 might have fallen out of the sky. The aircraft was flying through a region known for strong winds and thunderstorns, but the Airbus 330 was designed to navigate such conditions safely; experts said even a lightening strike shouldn't have caused the plane's systems to fail. So now investigators are faced with the daunting challenge of unravelling the mystery of what happened and why, and there'll likely be no quick answers to either of those questions.

 If previous investigations are any indication, the first step will be to gather as much of the floating debris as possible in order to positively identify the aircraft. Then a search will begin for the two "black boxes" containing the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders, which should tell investigators the plane's altitude, speed, course and attitude during its final moments and the reactions of its crew. Once they are retrieved, efforts will focus on recovering the plane's sunken fuselage, wings, engines and tail section from the ocean bottom, which lies approximately 4 miles beneath the surface where the wreackage was found.

Once the wreackage is raised, it will be brought to a large hanger where investigators will painstakingly piece the structure together again in order to look for clues to what went wrong. They'll try to determine in what order the aircraft's various components failed and, most importantly, where in the aircraft the failures began. For example, evidence of burned wiring might indicate a failure of the plane's electrical flight control systems; explosive residue from a door panel might point to a bomb. Every possibility has to be examined, and whatever investigators eventually conclude the cause to have been, including human error, will have to be evaluated in terms of its relevance for the rest of the fleet's safety. That may even mean grounding all Airbus 330s until the necessary modifications can be made. In any case, the whole process is unlikely to take less than a year, and in the worst-case scenario even then we may never know for sure what brought Flight 447 down

Posted by Glenn McNatt at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Transportation
        

 If the Democrats in Congress want to demonstrate that they're steering the nation away from pork barrel spending, then it's time to ground the flying pig known as the John P. Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

Republicans attacked the $800,000 set aside in the economic stimulus plan for repaving a runway at the Pennsylvania airport that's little more than a three-hour drive from Baltimore and a two-hour drive from Pittsburgh, but that's small potatoes. U.S. taxpayers have spent an estimated $150 million over the years on a little-used facility that last year served an average of 20 passengers per day.

That includes about $30 million to equip the airport as a military backup in case of a crisis, a situation that perhaps only Rep. John P. Murtha (left), chair of the House defense appropriation subcommittee, and allies in his district believe is likely to ever come to pass. The bells and whistles installed at Johnstown include an $8.6 million digital radar station that hasn't been touched since its completion five years ago.

Job creation is one thing, but who is going to keep the airport in business for years and years to come? Unless Washington directs General Motors to set up shop in Johnstown, too, the answer is the U.S. taxpayer.

Continue reading "When pigs fly" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of the summer season in Ocean City and last weekend's pedestrian fatality near the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge is a reminder of the more sobering risks associated with it.

A 16-year-old high school sophomore from nearby Ocean Pines was crossing U.S. 50 in West Ocean City around 8 p.m. on Saturday when he was struck and killed by a driver who had allegedly been drinking during a round of golf just prior to the crash. Police say the victim may have been running across the road and stumbled on the median.

Each year the Eastern Shore resort community experiences a handful of such fatalities -- and dozens of pedestrian injuries. The combination of distracted drivers who may be unfamiliar with local roads and vacationing beach and bar goers who fail to use crosswalks or observe traffic lights is problematic at best. Adding alcohol to the mix only makes it worse.

Ocean City police have been busy educating the public about the danger. Most recently, they've been posting videos and messages on social networks like YouTube and Facebook. But more drastic action may be needed.

Continue reading "Cars v. pedestrians in Ocean City" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Transportation
        

There's good news and bad this week for those who would like to see U.S. public transportation flourish. The good is that President Obama included $1.83 billion for transit construction in the budget he submitted to Congress. The bad is that it's about $48 billion short of what the nation's leading transit systems need.

That last analysis comes from a recent Federal Transit Administration report to Congress (Click on the Rail Modernization Study here) that looked at rail transit systems in Chicago, Boston, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Collectively, they serve 80 percent of the nation's rail transit customers but need about $50 billion -- or $5.9 billion each year -- if they are to be refurbished.

Such subway systems serve their cities well -- as long as they are reliable. Washington's Metrorail has been a huge success, but in recent years equipment malfunctions and breakdowns have become a catastrophe for commuters.

Continue reading "The trouble with transit" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Rough roads are not only an inconvenience but an expensive problem for car owners, too. A study to be released Friday in Michigan estimates that driving on damaged streets and highways costs U.S. motorists an extra $400 each year in vehicle operating costs.

It's worse for drivers living in and around large cities, according to researchers who found their added annual vehicle costs amount to $750 or more when repairs, bad mileage, tire wear and other factors are considered.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials considers about one-third of American roads to be in poor condition. Their message: Drivers can pay now for improved roads or pay later for car repairs.

They've got a point and a timely one, too. As state and local governments strain to make ends meet in the economic recession, the temptation to spend less on road maintenance is great. It's cheaper to shovel cold patch into a pot hole and wait until times are better to spend money on more substantial repaving.

Continue reading "The cost of that pothole" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Transportation
        

Anyone who has visited New Orleans' Garden District has experienced how a trolley line and a historic urban area can live together in harmony. Easy access to public transportation is a selling point to those who live in this part of New Orleans, not a sacrifice.

Those who insist that Baltimore's proposed Red Line run entirely underground have an unrealistic view of the situation. If money were no object, the system would be a subway -- and cost a king's ransom to build.

People living in Canton should understand that insisting that light rail run underneath Boston Street is a position that can only kill the project. The federal government won't pay for so much tunneling. Not because the money isn't available but because much higher priority is given projects with a better cost-benefit relationship.                                                                 Garden District Trolley                                                                                         

Continue reading "Red line reality" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Transportation
        

With Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of summer just five weeks away, officials in Ocean City are considering the usual tweaks and tinkering touches to pamper (and hopefully attract) more vacationers. The latest idea sounds pretty good: give bicyclists a little more time on the town's oceanfront boardwalk.

Cycling the boardwalk is one of the great pleasures of visiting the Atlantic Ocean resort, but bikes are banned by midmorning so as not to interfere with the operation of the tram that runs up and down the elevated walkway from the inlet to 27th Street.

But cyclists will get a one-hour reprieve -- albeit on weekdays only -- under a proposal given preliminary approval by the Ocean City Council this week. Tram service would be delayed until 11 a.m., which officials say will cost them less than $5,000 in lost fares.

Continue reading "Making room for boardwalk bikes" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Transportation
        

Next month, nearly 140 years to the day that the ceremonial golden spike was hammered into the final tie and the U.S. had its first transcontinental railroad, a National Train Day will be celebrated on May 9. Whether this turns out to be a holiday of lasting significance (think Mother's Day) or not (No Socks Day never quite caught on), it's apparent that passenger rail travel is experiencing something of a revival.

President Barack Obama has made high-speed rail a priority for his transportation agenda, and states are vying for the $8 billion the federal government is spending to develop faster train lines. Admittedly, the initiative is unlikely to result in a U.S. version of the bullet train (left) anytime soon, but what a remarkable turnaround from the days of the Bush administration, when Amtrak's budget was nearly zeroed out.

The planned national celebration of trains reminds us that while railroads can be high-speed and modern, part of their appeal is nostalgic. This is not a bad thing. Americans certainly have romanticized automobile and air travel. But railroads have a particularly rich history from which to draw -- and Baltimore plays a significant role in it.

Continue reading "Calling all trainiacs" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Transportation
        

News flash -- starting soon, anyone who wants the privilege of holding a Maryland driver's license will have to demonstrate that he or she is, in fact, capable of driving on the streets and highways of Maryland.

This change in policy will apply to first-time drivers as well as foreigners and others currently required to take an off-road test to obtain a state license. (People who hold licenses from other states and Canada are exempted.)

Some of us might have assumed that such a thing was already required. When I obtained my license in a different state many years ago, I was certainly expected to navigate real city streets, featuring real cars, real road signs and real pedestrians, at least for a few minutes.

Full disclosure: I am the father of a 15-year-old who will become eligible for a learner's permit in six months. Before she is loosed on an unsuspecting public, I want her to be able to do more than take a few turns around a test course and parallel park a couple of times. You should too.

The MVA is a much-maligned agency, often for good reasons. But it got this one right.

Posted by Michael Cross-Barnet at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Transportation
        

As locations in Maryland go, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is pretty well served by public transportation. No fewer than 20 bus lines have a stop by the ballpark. There's a light rail station on the premises and Metro subway isn't too far a walk. There's even a MARC commuter rail station - if you have another way to get home, that is.

But what it doesn't have are Maryland Transit Administration charter buses, one of the most convenient options for suburbanites. The federal government ruled last year that add-on transit services for sporting events are the province of the private sector. The MTA isn't allowed to offer them.

That's great - if there are companies offering such services. But, according to the Orioles, nobody's stepped up to the plate. Something similar happened to the Ravens last fall and charter bus companies did step in - by charging customers twice as much as the MTA.

Continue reading "Take me out to the ballgame a little cheaper" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Transportation
        

Continue reading "Speed kills but so can politics" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Transportation
        

After the terrorist attacks in London and Madrid in 2004 and 2005 suggested transit and rail vulnerabilities, the Bush administration pledged to take the necessary steps to make U.S. transportation infrastructure more secure. Congress insisted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security spend more than the administration initially requested to make America's commuter trains and subways safe.

How'd they do? Turns out, not so great. As was pointed out during a recent Congressional hearing, of the hundreds of millions of dollars appropriated by the federal government for such things as cameras, cops and equipment, a tiny fraction -- between 1 and 6 percent -- was ever spent on local security grants. If trains today are significantly safer than they were several years ago (as DHS officials continue to claim), it must have been done with smoke and mirrors, and cheaply.

Continue reading "Ride at your own risk" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Transportation