From the office of Del. Kathy Szeliga:
The leadership in Maryland just passed the highest toll increases in state history!!
Following is the list with all the increases:
http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Increase/documents/Public_Notice_Approved_Plan_092111.pdf
Despite the thousands of people who turned out to fight the toll increases at hearings across the state, tolls will double and even triple on our highways, bridges and tunnels.
Many of you commute through one of the tunnels or bridges or you may use them when you go to an Orioles or Ravens game or downtown for fun. These high tolls will certainly cause people to either find another route or simply not go downtown.
Current cash rate $2.00 each way/$4.00 round trip.
November 1 $3.00 one way/$6.00 round trip
Fully phased in $4.00 each way/$8.00 round trip!!
The commuter rates more than triple for passenger vehicles when fully phased in.
What I find interesting is that your trip to Ocean City and back using the Bay Bridge will cost you $6.00 (when fully phased in), while your trip to downtown Baltimore using one of the tunnels will cost you $8.00 round trip!!
Even if you do not use any of the toll facilities in Maryland, the cost of goods will go up for everyone. Commercial vehicles that deliver your goods and services will have to pass these additional costs on to consumers. Businesses are running on lean mean budgets today and there is not room to absorb these additional fees. You and I will pay them either directly or indirectly.
When will the tax and spend thinking in Annapolis change?
It looks like Maryland’s leadership is trying to be #1 in the nation …
#1 in taxes, fees, and tolls in the USA.
Kathy
Delegate Kathy Szeliga
the roads commissioner says this is to pay for projects already completed. Somebody needs to watch where the new revenues really go.
“Funny” how the “good” delegate uses the term “Leadership in Maryland” to infer that the elected representatives raised the tolls, when she knows damn well that the M.T.A. authority (a non-polical entity by design)is the agency that sets the rates. Is there ANY politician out there that isn’t a pathologicial liar????
It looks like it was the “leadership in Maryland” that passed these toll increases. And you call it a non-political entity? The governor’s secretary of Transportation is the chair of the committee, and all of the members are appointed by the government without any kind of legislative review.
If that’s what you mean by non-political, OK. Otherwise, sounds like you are the one cooking up falsehoods.
Great comment LEADIN9. The toll increase falls right back to O’Malley and the previous governors and the rest of the Dems. Does anyone remember when the bay bridges were built we were told the tolls would stop when the bridges were paid for? Or how about when the MDTA built all new toll booths on I-95 south over the Susquanna River only to tear them all down a few years later & eliminate the southbound tolls? Maryland and the MDTA don’t have a income problem they have a spending problem.
Oh you mean Ex Gov. EHRLICH also
This is such a non-issue.
The Cold hard fact of the matter is this was going to happen.Lost in all of this the fact that the shrinking tax base and loss of Federal dollars has caused the states to go after and look for other cash streams.The good citizens of Maryland just need to get of the duff and Vote.My wife is a school teacher in Perryville,$30 a year is not bad to use the Hatem bridge seeing she use’s it 360 times a year. It comes down to .083 cents a trip.Now going to Baltimore and using the Tunnels is another story.
Does she really work 360 days/yr as a teacher or does that number reflect that she uses it leisurely (not including the 5 days that she isn’t working as a teacher) as well? Thanks.
*cough* *cough* round trip = 180 days a year which is how many days there are of school *cough* *cough* I guess you need to go back to review your name *cough* *cough*
first, pythagorass, there isn’t always a toll coming southbound. second, since you needed to stretch your *cough*cough * intelligence beyond it’s normal capacity to berate someone who asked a question, maybe next time you’ll choke, choke , choke and rid the world of your kind; but before you do, know that there are teachers that work more than the 180 days of education you received!!
oh, and by the way, question, would you have me change my screen name each time i have a question or comment, so as to not spark the ire of other simple minded folks as yourself? just asking so you’ll feel more comfortable about degradation.
180 student days x 2 trips(over the bridge to work and back over the bridge to home) = 360 trips
Did you fail math or should we say “GETOURMATHRIGHTPLEASE” ?
do you pay both ways? I don’t think so.
“Trip” and “pay” are not the same word. Try to work on those language skills if you are planning to debate.
decoydude, since you had to attempt to show the rest of us YOUR only 180 x 2 days of education by actually showing your work, i’ll applaud your effort by clapping with one hand. maybe the next class you should try taking is deductive reasoning and/or social ethics in the modern world and it’s impact upon the failure of societies. you do know, however, that you will have to ask questions that expand beyond your basic knowledge of math skills. the pre-requisite for those classes, ignorance and the serenity it provides 101, have already been filled to full capacity, so you may have to wait a few…..well, you do the math.
After reading your response, I would suggest that you might consider English 101 or perhaps your Ignorance 101 course taught you to ignore basic capitalization?
@Decoydude You’ve cornered the market on ignorance.
Good to see an elected official tell the truth! Not a Senator trying to make it look great, because they championed the fight. This is how this administration operates, threaten something huge, so they get the amount they really wanted without a fight.
Of course she jumped up and took credit for it, and personally I wasn’t pleased with her sort of grandstanding approach to speaking at the hearings, but to her credit, Jacobs was the only person who came to the public meeting in Baltimore and got down in the trench to do the actual work of coming up with a plan the MdTA would accept.
Rudolph and Jacobs were pragmmatic about the whole thing, which I appreciated. Most of the rest were involved largely for political cover at the next election or because they wanted to ride the wave of anger to headlines.
While I agree that it’s somewhat absurd that the Bay Bridge is less than the other crossings (for all drivers), I wonder why there is no mention of the ICC, which when completed will be the longest and cheapest toll road in the State, and paved in the dirt of the one of the riches regions in the country.
I think what evil is actually at work here is that politicians don’t usually tell us precisely what was said in meetings, behind closed doors, etc..Regardless of the party, it seems like once an elected official moves in and gets settled in the cushy,big, comfy, roll around chairs, they forget about all the people that allowed them that privilege to be in those chairs in the first place. It’s not an absolute, but look how many other people in positions of power, etc., only let us know what they think we should know and nothing further.
did the thumbs down actually come from someone that knows otherwise? please elaborate, so that i may understand or are you going to make me wait for the actual report from that ethics committee to be made public as well?
GETYOURFACTSRIGHTPLEASE,
So, Can I assume confidently that you will be at the polls next time to vote the bums out and that you will be encouraging others to do the same?
What’s all the complaining about? Did I read corrrectly that the annual pass will be about $80 to cross the Hatem Bridge? Sheesh . . . the Lincoln Tunnel from NJ into Manhattan costs anywhere from $7.50 with EZ-Pass off-peak to $12.00 cash. That’s per trip!!
@PAUL – Unlike you, I am ignorant of many things. However, I have gathered from your posts a pretty good idea of your egocentric view of the world. Oh, by the way, have a nice evening.