Delaware Toll Plaza bottleneck uncorked?
Could this be the end of the infamous Delaware bottleneck?
Teri Moss, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority, was kind enough to pass on the news that Delaware officials have announced that the expansion project at the Newark Toll Plaza is expected to be complete and fully operational this Fourth of July weekend. According to the Delaware Department of Transportation, its contractor on the $32.6 million expansion project completed work a month ahead of schedule, allowing it to open all lanes in time for the weekend. Among other things, the project will ad E-ZPass lanes that drivers can use at highway speeds.
For years, the Delaware Toll Plaza has been the most infamous bottleneck on the Interstate 95 corridor -- routinely backing up for miles on holiday weekends. In some cases, drivers have been forced to wait more than an hour for the privilege of paying one of the highest per-mile tolls on the planet.
The $4 toll for a passenger car and the prospect of long delays have inspired many drivers to seek toll-free and faster bypass routes.
Moss said Marylanders could be among the beneficiaries of its neighboring state's work.
"This is good news for motorists heading out of Maryland on I-95 this weekend - and I-95 to Route 1 in Delaware should again be a viable route for residents north of Baltimore heading to Maryland and Delaware beach resorts," Moss said.
Drivers with vivid memories of the Delaware Toll Plaza or reactions to the news are enncouraged to contact michael.dresser@baltsun.com as we continue to cover these developments.
Comments
We went to Philly this past weekend for a roller derby event.
The at-speed lanes were open northbound - it was a breeze. On Sunday, we expected to do the same southbound, but the lanes weren't open, despite having every appearance of being finished.
I would love to see these at-speed lanes at our toll collection facilities here in MD.
Posted by: Bill | June 29, 2011 7:22 PM
Its unfortunate the Delware DOT did this project on the cheap. There are only 2 high speed Ez-Pass lanes in each direction. If EZ-PAss usage continues to increase at current rates, the Delaware toll barrier will quickly revert to a major bottleneck.
Posted by: Bill | June 29, 2011 8:28 PM
This project was engineered by a Baltimore firm (WRA in Fells) so don't blame Delaware.
This is great news, but you still should just hop off at Elkton and hop back on in DE to avoid the toll.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 29, 2011 11:45 PM
The fact that there are two high-speed tolling lanes per direction was dictated by the clients, i.e. those paying the bill (Delaware and the Feds), NOT by the engineer. In a gross over-simplification, the client specifies the "what", and the engineer cranks out plans that specify "how".
There are potentially many reasons to which we are not privy as to why there are two lanes instead of three (which, personally, I think is a non-issue): budget, space constraints, environmental considerations, etc.
By the way, the relationship between lanes and capacity is not linear: increasing lanes by 50% (from 2 to 3) does not increase capacity by 50%.
Posted by: Traffic Engineer | June 30, 2011 9:16 AM
As wonderful as this may finally be to have some of the construction done, they couldn't let it open w/o one last joke on us. We traveled to and from the Philly area on Saturday and on our way home at 11pm on Saturday night they had only one lane open for over 2 miles to finish painting lines on one side of one lane. We lost a good hour in the traffic. Whoever approved that bright idea is just brilliant. In my many travels between MD/NJ/PA I have lost the most time in DE. I've been sitting in DE traffic for over 5 years, forgive me for being skeptical that this will finally resolve the problems.
Posted by: Colleen T. | June 30, 2011 12:10 PM
Based on my experience with this toll plaza over the past 15 years, I have a feeling that it will continue to be a major botteneck on I-95. Getting rid of the completely unnecessary toll here is the only way to alleviate the bottlneck problem IMO.
Posted by: B | June 30, 2011 2:07 PM
I travel to and from DE every day for work and i think it's a HUGE improvement especially after having to deal with the "kill chute" that was in place for over a year! That was brutal. I think it was a great idea and i noticed on my way home from work Friday there was no traffic backed up AT ALL.
Posted by: Paula B | July 3, 2011 6:08 PM
I normally see and hear traffic conditions on this blog about the Delaware Toll Booths, however, this holiday we were not given updates normally and I was wondering why so I took the chance and passed through Delaware Saturday morning and all traffic was moving at normal speeds and if not then more, so Delaware Congratulations on your hard work!!!! It finally paid off!!!!!
Posted by: Daniel | July 5, 2011 10:10 AM