Posted on 03/23/2021 6:16:32 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Maryland transportation officials announced Thursday that they have selected Australian toll road operator Transurban to develop high-occupancy toll lanes for the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, potentially cementing the company’s dominance in the Washington region.
If Transurban and its partner, Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital, ultimately reach a 50-year deal with the state to build and operate the lanes, Transurban eventually would control 102 miles of express toll lanes around the nation’s capital — 37 in Maryland and 65 in Northern Virginia. Connecting high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in the two states would mark the beginnings of a regional network of express lanes in one of the most traffic-clogged areas of the country.
Maryland’s proposal has drawn criticism for its potential effects on the environment and adjacent communities in the densely developed suburbs. It also has attracted scrutiny after problems with another Maryland public-private partnership to build the delayed light-rail Purple Line.
Project foes also have pointed to what they say has been a cozy relationship between Transurban and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), although state officials say the governor’s office had no involvement in the selection. [Three private teams bid to build, finance Maryland toll lanes]
If approved, the “predevelopment agreement” — the first contract on the highway expansion proposal aimed at relieving chronic traffic congestion — would be limited to a year’s worth of early design work and other planning. However, the awarding of the contract is significant because that team would become the only one competing for the decades-long deal worth billions.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Australia is going big in Washington, DC-area infrastructure.
PING!
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Hope it works for you. I avoid any trans-urban tollways like poison, don’t like being herded and ticketed, neither do I like neeeding to provide my credit card so they can debit me should I pass under their radar.
I’m funny like that...
Right now traveling to Alexandria from Rockville for work and it only takes 35 minutes.
NEVER thought I’d see an 80 m.p.h. rush hour on the Belt Way!
The only cops I see are on the HOV Express lanes.
My last fine for speeding was 160 bucks. However, violating the Maryland HOV restriction can dun you 500. That could explain the discrepancy that you’re seeing.
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