Getting There

November 16, 2009

Getting there

In mating season, how to avoid a date with a deer

This is a very good time of year to become obsessive about deer.

November 9, 2009

GETTING THERE

At what point does safety trump the right to drive?

There are people who simply should not be permitted to own or operate motor vehicles.

November 2, 2009

GETTING THERE

ICC was always intended to exclude most people

There wasn't much public in the public hearing held by the Maryland Transportation Authority last week in Beltsville on its proposed tolls on the just-around-the-corner Intercounty Connector.

October 26, 2009

Getting there

Others leave U.S. in the dust on high-speed rail

Riding the MARC Camden Line to a conference on high-speed rail is a bit like taking a horse and buggy to an auto show.

October 19, 2009

GETTING THERE

P.G.'s Revenue Authority to set out speed cameras

A reader named John Dusch sent along an article from the Gazette in Prince George's County on speed cameras, thinking I'd be interested. I was.

October 12, 2009

GETTING THERE

A scenic road's poor sightlines

It was one week ago when my colleague, Baltimore Sun Business Editor Tim Wheatley, was killed in a crash with a United Parcel Service truck at the intersection of York and Corbett roads in northern Baltimore County. In an instant a vital, healthy man of 48 with a wife, three children and the deep respect of his professional colleagues became a statistic to be entered into a national database.

October 5, 2009

GETTING THERE

Speed camera report: drivers slowed down

As state and local officials in Maryland began deploying enforcement cameras in work zones and near schools last week to deter speeding, results from Montgomery County came in showing just how effective the strategy can be.

September 28, 2009

GETTING THERE

Hearings offer good forum to air details of ICC tolls

In 2005, foes of the Intercounty Connector raised a little hell about the Ehrlich administration's plans to build the long-delayed highway as a toll road - estimating that a daily end-to-end commuter might face up to $1,500 a year in tolls.

September 14, 2009

Getting There

Canceling an E-ZPass account isn't so easy

To the chagrin of many readers, I defended the Maryland Transportation Authority's decision this year to impose a $1.50-a-month fee on E-ZPass accounts. It was a sound business move because it pushed some subscribers to drop inactive accounts that were costing the state money.

September 7, 2009

GETTING THERE

Marylanders favor crackdown on drunken driving

It's hard to believe after witnessing the daily idiocy that pervades Maryland's roads, but there's a glimmer of hope that the state's drivers might be getting a little more serious about safety.

August 24, 2009

GETTING THERE

I-270: Putting the brakes on this $4.6 billion boondoggle

It's never too early to smother a really, really bad transportation project. These things take on a life of their own if they're allowed to progress too far, and before you know it you're being tossed out of your home so that folks who freely chose to live in outer suburbia can race home in congestion-free comfort to down their dinner a little earlier in the evening.

August 3, 2009

GETTING THERE

ICC has lots going for it

For many decades, the Maryland environmental movement has hated the Inter-county Connector with a blinding passion. It was environmentalists' worst nightmare, and the symbol of all that was short-sighted, backward and crassly commercial. They fought the highway proposal in the county councils, at the polls and in the General Assembly and the courts. They almost had it killed in the 1990s, but like a movie zombie it wouldn't stay dead. The opponents finally lost on all counts, and the 18-mile toll road in suburban Washington is now well on its way to completion.