I say the higher the rate the better. Let the people who are actually using the road contribute more than those of use who will probably never use it.

If I were in a hurry, I would gladly pay $6.10 to get to Olney/Ga Ave from Baltimore via the ICC instead of using surface roads like I do now (Rt 32 to Rt 108 to Ga. Ave).
I couldn't see myself doing it every day.

I think the proposed toll is absurd, shortsighted and very damaging to Marylanders. Many people who live along the I-95 corrider cannot find jobs locally and need to travel to NoVa and Montgomery County to find work. These people won't be getting off the interconnector after six miles - they will need to go all the way to 270 - because that is where the good jobs in Maryland are! No commuter can afford to pay $12 per day/$244 per month/$2,928 per year in tolls to go to work or to visit clients. Using the toll road should shorten commute times which may allow people to upgrade their employment opportunities and work in areas they currently wouldn't consider due to our horrible traffic but what kind of a salary increase would someone need to cover that extra $3K per year in commuting fees? And where else might they use that money? Plus, what will prospective employers think about this toll? It won't inspire any company to move here or to stay here. Look at NoVa, companies flock there because VA was smart enough to appeal to business. Maryland hasn't gotten the message and this toll is further proof of that. Maryland is building a road to promote a connection that no one will be able to use and what is the point to that? Maryland needs to stop being greedy to the point of stupid and needs to start thinking about what works for business because that is what makes a state successful. Maybe you should call VA and see how they keep the tolls on the Dulles Toll Rd so affordable? Or call PA and ask how they manage to keep the Blue Route/476 toll free? I was thrilled when I heard about the interconnect but now I think...why bother? Our officials are such idiots...

Paul, you sound like a tax em til they die democrat. The only thing accomplished by high tolls is a road no one uses. Then, the government will need to step in to make up the shortfall and the ultimate funds will come from non-users whose taxes will go to pay for an unused road. Good plan...not! Every time a tax or fee is levied it pushes some away. The more the charge the more people will seek alternatives. The way to stimulate is to increase the tax base then reap the rewards. Levying high tolls will cause revenues to drop thru non-use. This is a very basic economic principle called supply and demand. It should be required as a prerequisite for all politicians, especially O'Malley and Busch. The ICC will be an underused, underfunded boondoggle unless more reasonable heads prevail but I suspect the decision makers are as out of touch as Paul.

"The ICC will be an underused, underfunded boondoggle unless more reasonable heads prevail..."

Reasonable heads lost when the ICC became reality. Enjoy that high cost congestion everyone!

Make it $1 per mile. If you don't like it don't use it. If you can't afford it, move closer to work. Its not rocket science people. Now, this road probably isn't necessary but that is a separate issue. The government spends so much useless money, this won't have an affect on anything. But, if this saves people time and reduces miles driven, people will/should be happy to pay it.

hey ziggy, the ICC was Bobby Hairpiece's baby, not O'Malley's. I agree, let the people who use the road pay for it.

No comment on the tolls, but we wouldn't even have to be worrying about this being a potential boondoggle if we hadn't wasted money on it in the first place.

Smart Growth and TOD prevent needless government waste and forge strong economies, not road building.

Don't we already pay taxes for roads? What am I paying state, local, federal, employment, property, social security, gas, and sales tax for?

It should be free. Wasn't the road paid for with MD tax payer dollars? So as a result we are being taxed again with these high tolls; not to mention gasoline taxes that should have gone towards road construction and maintenance.

The entire reason for building the ICC was to off-load commercial truck traffic from the Washington beltway. I cannot imagine any trucking business using this road at those rates.

Hey ziggy, Bush and Ehrlich had a lot more to do with pushing this boondoggle through than O'Malley, and a least as much as Busch.

If you are surprised by the high toll rates, you haven't been paying attention. The estimates of 25+ cents per mile have been out there for years, even though the state intentionally delayed the official announcement until after construction reached the point of no return.

Ziggy, I hear your concern, and I heard the same concerns regarding the Dulles toll, the Dulles Greenway, I95 north, Ches. bay Bridge, etc. but, today all of the above are packed with cars and trucks. People will gladly pay to use the road, especially if it reduces travel time.

It seems that people are missing the point of the toll. In order to make the ICC a desirable alternative to local roads, everyone cannot drive on it. For drivers who perceive their time to be very valuable, the time saved by driving on the ICC versus local roads will be worth $6 to $12 a trip. But toll setting must aim to find the point where the cost will outweigh the benefit (shorter commute time, driving on a less congested road) for some and keep these drivers on the local roads. If we let everyone drive on the ICC, it will just become another 270. Then in 10 years the region will be forced to bulldoze the remaining open space we have to build another highway.

Ziggy,
While I partially agree with you, remember, the ICC was revived under the Ehrlich administration. This potential toll/tax was put back into play by a Republican.

I say if no one wants to pay this toll then just dont build the road. Use the roads we already have and dont complain, or use this road and paythe convenience charge.

I find it amazing that a project that was supposed to stimulate growth has been engineered instead to reward greed. I am one of the people who would use the ICC, but not at the prices suggested. I work in the IT field. I live in Baltimore County (one of the few areas that one can still afford to buy a home) and work in Washington DC. As Barbara said, I cannot find jobs with decent pay in Baltimore. So I must travel to where the jobs are. I have clients in Montgomery county and often have to travel there. At $12 a day, I doubt that I would view the ICC as a viable alternative.

it costs ~7 cents per mile to use the NJ turnpike. pitchforks at the ready, anyone?

I'm with Paul. The concept of paying based on what you use, instead of paying based on some arbitrary measure like income or home value, is long overdue.

If the high toll results in nobody using it then I guess that means they never should have built it.

We have far too many people demanding government services paid for by somebody else.

I agree with Barbara and Ziggy. Something tells me Paul is from MOM's office. These new toll lanes will eventually also connect Baltimore to Bel Air, apparently easing traffic congestion in that nightmare stretch during morning and afternoon commutes. I honestly don't see where the toll is even justified. Our state rakes in tolls at the tunnels and other location hands over fist, not to mention our state income, sales and property taxes rising across the board. Aren't they squeezing enough out of us already? I think Barb mentioned the VA plan, which is wonderful. On 66, for example, you simply pay twenty-five cents to enter the road. Then, their 'overflow' lanes, which are what these toll lanes here in MD are really, would open for eastbound traffic in the morning (folks commuting to DC) and westbound traffic in the afternoon (same folks heading home to the burbs). Works like a charm. If MD want's to charge by the mile using an EZpass system, I would have no problem paying five cents a mile flat rate, anytime. That would still wind up being more expensive than Virginia's plan, as 5 miles of travel would match the twenty-five cents they charge just to enter the highway, but I could live with that.

Thirty-five cents is absurd though. The state of Maryland, or at least the people running it, are out of their minds. I mean MOM couldn't even run the city or do any good for it. Now he's running our state into the ground too.

C'mon Bob, run again and get this state back on track.

This completely pointless road is costing us $1.5 million A DAY to build, kicked hundreds of people out of their houses, is destroying some of MD's last remaining old-growth forest, and will be another source of poison being dumped into the Chesapeake watershed. If you stop to think that we wouldn't even HAVE a budget problem if we weren't paying for this monument to retardation, you would realize that the tolls are probably the least outrageous thing associated with it.

Matt, read the other posts. You have your facts exactly backwards.

These tolls rates were known years ago, while Ehrlich was still in office. The state delayed the official announcement until after construction was too far along to cancel because they knew people would react negatively, as you are today, and might have demanded the project be stopped if they had known how high the tolls were in time.

Erhlich succeeded, it's too late to stop, and you have no one to blame but yourself for letting him pull the wool over your eyes.

O'Malley is only guilty of not canceling Ehrlich's folly.